Friday, September 7, 1945
THE JEWISH NEWS
Jewry's Hope for Tomorrow
Europe's Jewish Children
Become JDC's No. 1 Project
Dr. Joseph Schwartz, Joint Distribution Committee's Euro-
pean Director, Describes Tour of Germany; Views Major
Needs for Rehabilitating Youngsters with U. S. Funds.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Dr. Joseph J. Schwartz, European director of the
Joint Distribution Committee, accompanied Earl G. Harrison, American
representative on ,the Intergovernmental Committee op Refugees, on a
mission in Europe for President Truman to study the conditions of displaced
persons still in Germany. including Jews. Dr. Schwartz prepared this article
upon returning to the U. S. after eight months abroad.
Since writing this article, Dr. Schwartz has been granted a visa allowing
him to enter Poland to study Jewish conditions there. He is proceeding to
Poland by way of Germany and will be the first representative of a Jewish
organization from abroad to be admitted to liberated Poland.
necessity. Tens of thousands of
children are benefiting from the
aid that goes directly to their
parents. But other tens of thou-
sands are orphans or children yet
to be reunited with their parents.
JDC is now maintaining, fully or
in part, more than 24,000 such
children in France, Belgium,
Switzerland, Holland, Greece and
Turkey. Thousands more are liv-
ing in Romania and Hungary and
benefit from JDC's aid program
in these countries.
In France, for example, JDC
provides for 2,300 Jewish children
in homes and institutions of the
OSE, a JDC-supported local child
care agency. New homes are ttn-
der construction which will be
capable of sheltering another -700.
JDC also has placed. 6,800 chil-
dren in boarding schools and.
with Jewish families.
JDC Orphanage in Rome
. About 300 children from concen-
tration. camps in southern .Ger-
many and Austria are being cared
for by the JDC in a camp in
northern Italy and others are ar-
riving daily. In all Italy every
known Jewish child is living in
a Jewish home or institution. A
child care program, administered
independently by local communi-
ties, is subsidized by the . JDC.
The hundreds of children who
were. once sheltered in convents
in southern Italy have been taken
to a JDC orphanage in Rome.
In Belgium, two new children's
homes have been opened, capable
of providing specialized care for
300 youngsters. In Greece, Hol-
land and elsewhere that need ex-
ists, orphanages, - youth hostels
and other child . .care institutions
are being outfitted and placed in
use as quickly as possible.
Two other serious problems are
receiving the fullest attention of.
JDC overseas staff, Those children
who can, must be reunited with
relatives and parents. In the capi-
tals of most of the countries of
western Europe, 's the JDC now
maintains tracing departments.
These, combined with the efforts
of the Central Location Index in
the U. S., have provided thou-
sands of children, as well as par-
ents, with addresses of their near
ones who have been "lost" for
years.
By DR. JOSEPH J. SCHWARTZ
To the Jews of Europe the year 5705 brought the priceless gift
of liberation from terror and death at the , hands of the Nazis. This
new year must bring liberation in the fuller sense of the word. The
Jews of Europe must have the opportunity to take up normal lives
again—to build homes in Europe or abroad, to earn their bread and
be assured of a future. Above all,®
that future must be assured for
the 150,000 or more Jewish chil- moved from the camps and Ger-
dren of Europe. In them rests the many as well.
First steps have already been
destiny of our people.
On my brief furlough in the taken. JDC, in contact with vari-
ous Allied and neutral govern-
ments, has negotiated for the ad-
mission of more than 5,000 chil-
dren to temporary havens sup-
ported by the JDC. These coun-
tries are opening their doors to
the children.
Not Final Solution
Two thousand children now are
on their way to Switzerland. One
thousand will find homes in Eng-
land. A thousand are already in
France. Sweden offered to take
all the children, Jewish and non-
Jewish, 'from Bergen Belsen who
were orphans, sick, or whose par-
ents were sick.
The generosity of these coun-
tries is not the final solution.
Their new homes are not perma-
nent. Those who have relatives
DR. JOSEPH S. SCHWARTZ
must be helped to rejoin them. A
permanent homeland must be
U.S. to report on the condition of
found for those who have none—
Europe's Jews and the work of in Europe, in Palestine, or else-
the Joint Distribution Committee, where.
I found that the interest of Ameri-
For the great majority, Pales..
can Jews is focused on the prob-
'kin of Europe's Jewish children. tine offers the best solution. As
Over and over I was asked—what soon as certificates for these chil-
dren are available, they will be
is being done for them?
moved to the Holy Land.
The JDC considers the problem
*242 Sail to Palestine
of saving the children so impor-
Within, the. past month, 242 or-
tant that nearly half of its 1945
appropriations are being used to phaned children were emigrated
from Bergen . Belsen and other
give direct aid to children.
camp g .in Palestine. They sailed
Jewish Environment
Typify Whole Generation
on the S. S. Mataroa, chartered
The
other problem is that of
The children typify their whole by JDC, which•brought 1,164 per-
generation: They • • are • Children sons to Palestine. Many of these returning: to a Jewish ,environ-
ment those Jewish children who
who have Jost trace of their par- adults were *also ex-internees:
were hidden' in 'Christian homes
ents, who have seen the horrors
of the concentration camps, who — In the meantime, JDC is still or institutions during the Nazi
have been hidden in non-Jewish caring for thousands of children occupation.
This problem has proved easier
homes and institutions to escape from which immediate immigra-
the camps and death. Today the tion is • not possible or not a prime to solve than the recent publicity
problems of thes,e - little ones have
a first • call on the, attention of
those who seek to aid . them and
GreAngs and Best Wishes
on the generosity. and sympathy
of the American Jewish. corn-
For the New Year from
munity.
In Europe. today, _MC workers
in a score of countries are in the
hick of the 'good fight to find SO-
Meyer Minkin and Family
utions for these problems and
ave the Children. The JDC is de-
ermined that all should be re-
United Garment
Page Sixty-Seven
might lead one to believe. The
men and women who often re-
ceived the children from the
hands of parents marked for de-
portation, have built up attach-
ments that are not easily broken.
But once they are assured that
the children they must surrender
will receive favorable -living ar-
rangements and a future, they
have given up most of their
charges. Every day, the number
of Jewish children in non-Jewish
homes is growing less in Europe.
Jewish community leaders in
Europe urged that the removal of
Jewish children from .non-Jewish
environments be undertaken dip-
lomatically. They stressed "Let
us do this thing quietly—without
protests, without public manifes-
tations—and we will retrieve the
great majority of these children."
I am confident that, given time
and the opportunity to do the job
the way it must be done, the
great majority of the children
will be recovered.
U. S. and Soviet Jewish
Chess Champs in Match
NEW YORK (JPS) — Eight
American-Jewish chess experts
have been assigned places on the
ten-man U. 1 S. chess team which
will oppose the leading Russian
team in the forthcoming inter-
national chess championship
torrrnament. The U. S. team in-
cludes Safnuel. Rechevsky, for-
mer U. S. champion, Reuben
Fine, Israel A. Horowitz, Isaac I.
Kashdan, Herman Steiner, Paci-
fic Coast champion, Albert S.
Pinkus, Abraham Kupchik and
Pfc. Herbert Seidman.
M. Botvinnik, Russian cham-
pion who will head the Soviet
team, is also Jewish.
Anti-Semitic Incidents
Reported in Los 'Angeles
LOS ANGELES, (JPS)—Plan-
ned anti-Semitism in the Los •
Angeles-Hollywood area, believed
sparked by G. L. K. Smith's
recent visit to. the West Coast,
was seen . in a number of in-
cidents which reached a climax
on the night of Japan's surren-
der, when a gang of hoodlums
yelling "Let's kill the Jew," at-
tacked John Wexley, author of
numerous anti-Nazi movie seen-
arios, in front of his home here.
The 'next day, C. A. (Mike)
OwenS,-Movie bit player, identi-
fied as one of the assailants, was
arrested, charged with assault
and released on $1,000 bail. None
of his associates were picked up.
Detroit Section
American
Jewish
Congress
Greetings
To the Entire
Community
Morris Lieberman
Pres.
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New Year
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•
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