Page Six

THE JEWISH NEWS

Friday, October 5, 1945

Shaping the New World

By HENRY WINEMAN

E are entering t h e
campaign of the War Chest of Metro-
politFm. Detroit at a moment when
the rst dim outlines of the shape of
the new world have appeared on the
world horizon. To appreciate the full
significance of this over-all commun-
ity effort we cannot merely regard it
as one in a series of campaigns for
vital causes in behalf of our Allies,
in behalf of the institutions supported
through the community War Chest and
in behalf of the United Jewish Appeal
for Refugees, Overseas Needs and
Palestine and the other Jewish agen-
cies included in the Allied Jewish
Campaign. To see this drive in its
proper perspective, we must project
it on the screen of the world shaking
developments which have brought us
to the threshhold of a new era. Im-
plied in our obligations to this year's
drive is a challenge to our fundamen-
tal outlook for the future.
Throughout the duration of the
Detroit War Chest campaign the Jew-
. ish community has given an excellent
account of itself. It has made an out-
standing contribution to the success
of these drives because at the founda-
tion of our efforts both as a commun-
ity and as individuals there has been
a deep understanding of the totality
of the causes supported through the
War Chest and a keen recognition of
the major needs in Jewish life in
Europe, in Palestine and in our own
city. Not only in terms of the funds
raised but in terms of the under-
standing and good will that has been
generated by the interplay .of Jewish
and non-Jewish participation, we
have recorded progress in which all
of us may justifiably take pride.
JEWISH NEEDS HAVE RISEN
All of us are mindful of the needs
that are embraced within the frame-
work of the War Chest drive. But as
members of the Jewish community,we
are particularly aware of the Jewish
needs that have arisen out of the holo- •
caust of war and persecution and the
special, responsibilities which confront
us today with the coming of peace and
the opportunity to rebuild Jewish life
in Europe and in the Jewish home-
land in Palestine. Within the bor-
ders of our own city we must also
recognize the fact that we face new
tasks during the present • transition
period.
With the end of World War II the
Jews of the United States find them-
selves in the role of architects of the
:Jewish future. The dangers of mass
extermination have been eliminated
with the defeat of the Axis powers.
But victory has not solved the prob-
lem of mass Jewish misery and mass
Jewish homelessness., The changing
world picture has not altered the
fundamental and inescapable fact that
American Jewry remains the one hope
of the Jews in Europe who have sur-
vived the great era of destruction. in
the history of the Jewish people. It
is this . solemn responsibility which
underscores the paramount import-
ance of the United Jewish Appeal for
Refugees, Overseas Needs and Pales- .
tine, as the instrument whereby we
can and we must reclaim the remain-
ing Jews of Europe' from the wreck-
age of a war-ravaged continent; The
agencies of the United Jewish Appeal -
—the JOint Distribution Committee,
the United Palestine Appeal and the
National Refugee Service—are con-
fronted with superhuman tasks in
building a future for the Jewish peo-
ple which will be free from fear,
want and homelessness.
AID TO JEWS IN EUROPE
A grim winter full of suffering

and death confronts the Jews of Eu-
rope. The war is over, but the corn-
ing months will bring new sorrows
and tragedy for the survivors of Hit-
lerism who are without food, without
clothing and without homes. The
J.D.C. now faces the greatest and per-
haps g r a vest tasks in its 30 years'
history. The volume of emergency
relief which is made available during
the next few months will mean the
difference between life and death for
hundreds of thousands. They have
lived to see victory, but they may die
before they taste its fruits, unless ade-
quate resources are immediately made
available.
The war is over, but there are
more than 100,000 Jews who are still
living in the concentration camps of
Germany. They are living in the con-
centration camps because they have
no other home. They are the state-
less and non-repatriable Jews who,
in the language of diplomacy, are call-
ed "displaced persons", a phrase which
gives only the slightest hint of their
tragedy and need. Everything pos-
sible is being done to alleviate their
plight. Thirty-five J. D.C. representa-
tives are already working in fourteen
concentration camp areas in Germany
and Austria to help these homeless
Jews to provide extra food for those
who are sick, to help locate their rela-
tives and give them the assistance to
emigrate to Palestine and other coun-
tries. A week ago the J.D.C. sent
another ten American workers over-
seas to carry on this work in the for-
mer concentration camps. With the

Vice-Chairman of the War Chesf of Metropolitan Detroit

tate and find new homes for them.
Through neutral sources J.D.C.
is now supplying funds to help the
600,000 Jews . in Rumania, Hungary
and Bulgaria.
The J. D. C. is also continuing its
assistance to some 250,000 Polish Jews
in Asiatic Russia, and to the Jews in
North Africa, Czechoslovakia, Spain,
Portugal, Sweden and the Philippines.
The J. D. C. also aided in the im-
migration of 4,500 Jews in 1945. Of
this number 4,000 went to Palestine.
As of this date the J. D. C. has al-
located a total of $19,212,000 for its
work in .1945, a sum which nearly
equals its entire expenditures for the
year 1944.
The sum of $7,845,000 has been al-
located thus far this year for J. D. C.
activities in liberated and ex-enemy
countries; $7,516,230 for its work in
the Balkan countries and Shanghai
and $3,149,160 for J. D. C: programs
in . Allied nd neutral countries.
THE ROLE OF PALESTINE
In view of the desperate situation
of the Jews of Europe and the fact
that so many of the survivors look to
Palestine as their one hope for a fu-
ture of security and freedom, the
agencies which constitute the United
Palestine Appeal are confronted with
the most challenging tasks in their
history. It is evident that Palestine,
which played a major role in provid-
ing a home for Jews fleeing from Hit-
lerism is now at the beginning of an
even more historic chapter in the
post-war solution of the Jewish prob-
lem.

They Will
Never Know

Thanks to J.D.C.
and U.P.A., these
infants will never
know the cruelties
their parents en- .
dured in Nazi-
held Europe.
Brought to Pales-
tine through the
efforts of the
United Jewish Ap-
peal, they are re-
ceiving medical
care at_ a reception
center ' for immi-
grants, established
by the U.P.A.

help of the J. D. C. all Jewish chil-
dren without parents—a total of 2,500
—were evacuated from these camps
to havens in France, Switzerland,
England and Sweden. Approximately
300 were helped to go to Palestine.
A relief program of increasing pro-
portions is being carried on by the
J. D. C.'s European chairman, who has
gone into Poland to make a thorough
survey of Jewish conditions in the
country which is the graveyard of
millions of Jews slaughtered by the
Nazis. In the meantime, J. D. C. is
shipping large quantities of supplies
and tools to help rebuild that shat-
tered Jewish community.
In France, J. D. C. help is going
to more than 35,000 of the 170,000 Jew-
ish survivors in that country. Com-
plete J. D. C. help is being given to
nearly 6,000 Jews who recently re-
turned from concentration camps and
about 9,000 children.
In Italy today there are about 12,-
000 refugees from Austria and East-
ern Europe who are in great need.
Food and housing are critical needs
in ravaged Greece where there are
some 9,000 Jewish survivors. Con-
tinually expanding its activities, the
J. D. C. has just opened an office in
Prague to handle the relief needs of
two-thirds of the 37,000 Jews in Czech- .
oslovakia.
Nearly all of the 30,000 Jews in
Holland are today in need of shoes
and winter clothing. Recently nine
truckloads of J. D. C. food and oth-
er supplies reached Austria. These
transports carried 75 tons of supplies
which were distributed in Vienna.
V-J Day brought liberation to
Jewish refugees in Shanghai. More
than 12,000 men, women and children
look to the J. D. C. to help rehabili-

solidation of those already in exist-
ence, loans to individual settlers, and
investments in various projects.
One of the major problems con-
fronting the Jewish Agency for Pal-
estine is the task of re-integrating the
Jewish servicemen and women who
are now being demobilized. A total
of 10,000 Jewish soldiers from Pales-
tine have already registered their in-
tention to settle on the land, while
from 8,000 to 9,000 require aid for re-
tursking to civilian life as workers in
industry and small businessmen.
The end of the war has also con-
fronted Palestine with the problem of
economic reconversion. Many
new
industries were established to produce
war goods and light armaments. War
production reached its peak in the
year 1944 when the volume of goods
produced for the Allied war effort
amounted to more than $180,000,000.
UPA agencies are aiding in transition
from war to peacetime production so
that employment opportunities may
be available for the largest possible
number of new immigrants. For the
promotion of trade and industry, the
sum of $978,419 was spent during the
first nine months of 5705. An addi-
tional sum of $411,739 was spent for
labor and the development of fishing
and maritime activities.
At the foundation of the large-scale
settlement of refugees in the immed-
iate post war period is the program of
land acquisition and development.
Land is required for the establishment
of new agricultural settlements. Land
is required for the building of new
housing projects of the newcomers.
Land is required for increasing food
production of the country. The sum
of $10,021,608 was spent by the Jew-
ish National Fund during the first
nine months of 5705 for the acquisi-
tion of land, maintenance, develop-
ment and forestation.
REFUGEES IN THE U. S.
V-J Day and the reconversion of
our war-economy has brought new
problems to the National Refugee
Service. The favorable labor market
which made it possible for the agency
to reduce its activities to a minimum;
is likely to be affected. Returning
war veterans are also seeking jobs.
As a result, the livelihood of thous-
ands of refugees is threatened.
The older refugees who will now

At Last!
Home in Zion

Survivors of Hit-
lerism joyfully
carry the Flag of
Zion as the S. S.
Mataroa docks at
Haifa, Palestine,
bringing 1,164 ref-
ugees through the
efforts of the Uni-
ted JeWish Appeal.

During the first nine months of the
year 5705 (October 1, 1944 to June
30, 1945) the expenditures of the . Pal-
estine agencies, which receive their
American support through the United
Palestine Appeal, amounted to $22,-
870,639. When one compares this fig-
ure with the total of $23,365,897, which
was spent for the entire year 5704, one
recognizes the greatly expanded ac-
tivities that have been carried on this
year to meet the pressure for a new
life on the part of Jews who have
been saved from death.
It is the task of the Jewish Agency
for Palestine to provide a new life
for the newly arrived immigrants.
During the first nine months of 5705,
the sum of $3,712,242 was spent for
immigration and relief to refugees,
including training activities and relief
abroad, transportation, care of immi-
grants on arrival, camps and hous-
ing.
Approximately 10,000 Jewish re-
fugees have reached the shores of
Palestine this year, and it is expected
that this number will reach 15,000 by
the end of 1945.
During this period the sum of $3,-
985,731 was spent for agricultural set-
tlement—for the establishment of new
settlements as well as for the con-.

find it difficult to obtain employment -
and the great majority of refugees
who held marginal jobs during the
war-period must again turn to the
N.R.S. for assistance. Relief and finan-
cial assistance furnished to the unem-
ployed will reach a new high level by
the end of the year.
The N. R. S. must also deal with
the problem of integrating the 918
refugees who were sheltered at Ft.
Ontario "for the duration". This new
responsibility, unforeseen at the be-
ginning of the year, will entail con-
siderable financial expenditure. N.R.S.
will render resettlement- service, fi-
nancial assistance and immigration, ac-
tivity..
The broader scope of the needs of
the agencies of the United Jewish Ap-
peal clearly reflects the decisive char-
acter of their programs at the present -
time. • The Jewish community of De-
troit will most certainly wish to as-
sume their proper share of the obliga- .
tions involved. Through the funds re- .
ceived by the Allied Jewish Campaign
from the War Chest drive adequate
provision must be made for the United
Jewish Appeal so that all of us may
discharge fully our responsibility to
our, fellow-Jews in this crucial period
of reconversion and reconstruction.

