THE JEWISH NEWS

Friday, September 28, 1945

JDC Largest Contributor
To WRB, O'Dwyer Reports

Private Jewish Organizations in U. S. Spend $20,000,000
to Aid War Refugee Board, Former Director Discloses;
Urges Palestine Homeland for Refugees

WASHINGTON, (JTA)—Private Jewish organizations in the
U. S. spent $20,000,000 for projects prepared by the War Refugee
Board to rescue Jews from Nazi hands in Europe, it is revealed
in a report issued by William O'Dwyer, last executive director of
the board, which went out of existence on Sept. 15.
The Joint Distribution Committee contributed more than $15,-
000,000, the report emphasizes. The Vaad Haatzalah Emergency
Committee of Orthodox Jews in the U. S. contributed more than
$1,000,000. Other organizations which cooperated with the War
Refugee Board included the American Jewish Committee, Hias,
World Jewish Congress, Jewish Labor Committee, National Refu-
gee, Zionist ' Organization of America and Emergency Committee
to Save the Jewish People.
More than $2,000,000 were allocated to the WRB from the
President's emergency fund, for the shipment of food to be dis-
tributed by the Red Cross to civilians in Nazi concentration camps,
the report discloses. The board spent $563,000 for administration
and operations. The Joint Distribution Committee served as the
agent of the WRB in spending the bulk of its funds in France,
Hungary and Romania.
Tremendous Effort Made to Save Jews
Summarizing the activities of the board from its establishment
in Jan. 22, 1944 to its termination, O'Dwyer said in his 75-page
report. that "tremendous" efforts were made by the board to save
Jews from Nazi oppression. At the same time, he observes that
"now we are faced with the equally important problems of their
mental and physical rehabilitation and their permanent resettle-
ment if they are to live as decent human beings."
His report says the finding of permanent homes for the dis-
placed people who cannot or will not return to their native lands
is a problem demanding international action. He urges that the
U.S. "as a matter of national policy should initiate aggressive action
at once for a United Nation solution of this international problem."
peclaring the permanently displaced "stateless Jews" present
the most pressing problem, O'Dwyer asks immediate action on their
behalf. He urges "that the U.S. Government take all possible steps
to effect , the opening of Palestine for the immigration of these
people."
Undeiground Groups Helped Jews to Flee Nazi -
The WRB planned to save refugees' by concealing them froM the
enemy and evacuating them, by influencing Nazi satellites not to
cooperate in Nazi extermination and atrocities, by trying to obtain
better conditions in concentration camps and by finding temporary
havens for those who could escape. It used underground operators
and resistance groupS, bribed German officials and border guards,
supplied false identification papers and procured transport by
-boat and rail.
Rescue operations were made possible by Treasury and State
Department change in policy which permitted private agencies to
transfer from the U. S. to their representatives in neutral countries.
When the. British Government objected to the new licensing
policy on the ground it enabled the enemy to acquire foreign ex-
change, the State Department with concurrence of the WRB and
the Treasury replied that the U.S. felt the saving of lives "far out-
weighed any possible danger involved in permitting the enemy to
acquire relatively insubstantial quantities of foreign exchange," and
that we intend "to continue the licensing policy we had been pur-
suing for several months." No ransom payments were ever made
and "only a trickle" of free exchange seeped into enemy areas,
the report says.
Thousands of Refugees Brought Out of Balkans
Throughout the board's work the Nazis refused cooperation,
even when safe conduct was asked through the governments of
Sweden, Switzerland and the Red Cross. Some 1,392 refugees
were brought out of Romania by rail through Bulgaria and 539 sail-
ed in small craft from Greece. About 150,000 were Jews deported
from Bessarabia and Bucovina to Transnistria, and despite the fact
that the U. S. and Romania were at war, 48,000 survivors were
removed from Transnistria to Romania, many of them eventually
reaching Palestine.
In Hungary,- through a Swedish business man, Raoul Wallen-
berg, who was given diplomatic status by the Swedish Government,
a "relentless campaign" was conducted in behalf of the Jews, the
i eport discloses. He issued Swedish protective passports, rented
buildings to house rabbis and communal leaders and pressed Hun-
garian authorities for better treatment of Jews. About 20,000 Jews
received Swedish protection in Hungary.
Switzerland became "the most important center" for the
WRB's operations in Europe and $17,000,000 were sent there to aid
in the rescue of Hitler's victims from France, Germany, Italy, Austria,
Czechoslovakia and Hungary. Eight thousand Jewish orphans were
kept in France by funds sent through Switzerland. Thousands of
orphans were kept alive in France by funds sent through Switz-
erland. Thousands of Jews in Axis territories, were saved by pro-
tection extended by Latin American governments.
U.S. Embassy in Madrid Hit for Failure to Aid
The board criticises the American embassy in Madrid, which
failed to cooperate in the work of evacuating refugees through the
Iberian Peninsula. Only after James H. Mann was sent by WRB
to Portugal and Spain did the Madrid embassy get to work, but
by that time large scale rescues from France were "impractical or
impossible." The WRB did get the Spanish Government to give
hundreds of Sephardic Jews Spanish nationality, thus saving them
from Nazi death or deportation.
In protracted negotiations conducted by Saly Mayer, leader of
the Swiss Jewish community, with the Nazis over the release of
Jews when the war was going against the Nazis, the Germans
were tricked over a period of months. At one stage in these negotia-
tions, conducted with full knowledge of the Russians and British,
the State and Treasury Departments permitted the JDC to trans-
fer $5,000,000 to a restricted Swiss account to give Mayer some-
thing tangible to negotiate with, and thus gain time as the war
was coming to an end. No payments were ever made from this
fund which was turned back to the JDC when. the war was over.
Through these negotiations, 1,673 Jews were brought to Switz-
erland from Bergen-Belsen, deportation of 200,000 from Budapest
to Auschwitz was cancelled in August, 1944, and a transport of
17,000 bound for Auschwitz was diverted to Austria. As the war
went increasingly against the Nazis, they made proposals through
Sweden as well as Switzerland and on April 21, 1945, Himmler
met a member of Sweden's Jewish community in Berlin, after
which several thousand Jews were released from the Ravensbruck
concentration camp and transported by the Swedish Red Cross to
Sweden.
The WRB report refers to the 900 refugees "still behind- the
bars of Fort Ontario awaiting more humane treatment from Am-
erica and a solution of the problem of their ultimate resettlement."

Page Three

Weekly Review of the News of the World

(Compiled From Cables of Independent Jewish Press Service)

AMERICA
A delegation of the World Jewish Congress
is soon to visit Eastern European Jewish Com-
munities. Dr. Leon Kubowitzki, Secretary Gen-
eral of the World Jewish Congress, is now
visiting the various Jewish communities in
Western Europe.
Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization
of America, has cabled $1,112,000 to the Youth
Aliyah (Youth Immigration) Bureau of the
Jewish Agency for Palestine in Jerusalem, to
provide for the education and maintenance of
Jewish refugee children.
Francis H. Biddle, former II. S. Attorney
General, has been named by President Truman
to be the American judge at the trial of Axis
war criminals. John J. Parker, judge df the
4th District Court of Appeals, is to serve as
Mr. Biddle's alternate on the international
military tribunal. Their appointment is not
subject to Senate confirmation.
Edward Bykowski, 31, disabled veteran who
spent 16 days picketing the residence of Mis-
sissippi Senator (The Man) Bilbo in Washing-
ton, has called on other veterans to join him
in his crusade against the anti-minority and
race-hate campaign of the Senator from Mis-
sissippi.
The new year, Rosh Hashanah, found the
plight of the Jewish internees in Shanghai
more dire than ever before, Dixie Tighe, New
York Post correspondent; reports. The meager
amounts of money which have barely kept
their alive so far, dwindled down to Swiss
francs which are not negotiable in Shanghai.
Sanitary conditions, MisS Tighe says; are non-
existent with the exception of hot water f,or
bathing twice a week, which costs 200 Chinese
dollars per person.
. The Bronze Star for heroic 'services in
France, Luzon and the Russian Ukraine,. were
awarded to two Jewish nurses, the National
Jewish Welfare Board reports' here. The re-
cipients are: Hilda Miller, of Cleveland Heights,
0., and First Lt. - Marian F: SherrOd of Chi-
cago,

PALESTINE
Nine persons were injured, two of them
gravely, when seven powerfully charged bombs
went off in Jerusalem last Saturday, five of
them in the center of the city and two near
the postoffice. One of the two gravely injured
is a boy of 10. The seven others received first
aid and were sent home. The explosion set off
an avalanche of pamphlets by Irgun Zvai
Leumi, terrorist group.
A number of British newspapers published,
Prominently, shocking accounts of the situation
of Jews in displaced persons camps on the
continent, pointing out that Poles in the camps
are virulently anti-Semitic, and scribble and
shout variations of a single slogan: "Even
democratic Poland does not want the Jews."
The press reports state that none, of the Jews
in these camps want to return to Poland and
that all are anxious to go to Palestine.
OVERSEAS
At the invitation O-f the Polish government,
a delegation composed of members of British
Parliament will visit that country to acquaint
themselves with conditions there. Included in
the party is John Mack, Laborite M. P., a
Zionist, who is to investigate the position of
Jews there, and the recent pogroms.
A flat assertion that the Vatican never in-
tended to baptize Jewish refugee children
sheltered in Catholic homes and institutions
was officially made by the Vatican press de-
partment.
At a meeting held in Lodz, Deputy Minister
of Justice Leon Hain stated that the Polish
Ministry of Justice is preparing a bill that will
brand anti-Semitism as a punishable crime.
Representatives from the Kehilloths (Jew-
ish Community Councils). of Belgrade, Zagreb
and Sarajevo, Jews who have returned to
their homes after release from Nazi concentra-
tion camps in Italy, have been called to testify
against Anton Pavelitch, Yugoslavia's Number
One Quisling, at his trial which is to open in
Belgrade on Oct. 1. Facing trial with Pave-
litch, are thirty-four officers of the Croat army.
-
See Also Page 22

q..0111/2

Unusual furniture and objects d'art for the Living Room, Foyer, and Library

REGENCY

.

TO SPEED RELIEF FOR THE
SURVIVORS FROM NAZISM—

Give Liberally to the

WAR CHEST

And work for its success

High Back Chair

$1 3950

Painted satin, quilted matelasse
or hand-painted tapestry. Many
colors. Mahogany frame. Steel
spring bottom. Hair filled. Down
or spring-filled cushion.

IfIth CENTURY

Fireside Chair

'129'

Quilted matelasse in many col- .
ors. Steel spring construction.
Carved mahogany frame. Lovely
in pairs for fireplace or picture
window. '

Also

a Few Manufacturer's Sample
Chairs marked down for clearance.

400 Different Chairs dis-
played in our studios.

Budget Terms Arranged
Open Every Evening
E. Robinson in Charge

...nouJe

J

UN. 3-8600

7630 WEST McNICHOLS ROAD

near Penoiugton

THE CHAIR STORE OF AMERICA

.......riam...mullaommorms• ■1111111.1111111 Mgrffi. -RM AIMINN IWIWNIMIN

lit