This Academy Award - Winning 1998 documentary examines the critical post - World War 2 period from 1945 - 1948 and the plight of tens of thousands of refugees who survived the Nazi Holocaust but whom most of the world left to fend for themselves. Their clandestine attempts to get to the Jewish homeland led to the creation of the State of Israel in 1948. We see death in concentration camps after liberation, from disease or even from eating too much. We learn of pogroms murdering those who return home. We see the squalor of displaced persons camps. Facing strict British immigration limits into Palestine, many sought passage illegally, often ending up in locked camps in Cyprus. Against this backdrop, Jews in Palestine, Truman in the White House, and UN delegates debate Israel’s formation.