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THE JEWISH NEWS

Friday, October 19, 1945

Underground Rescue Activities Revealed.

Inc Aide Alone Saved 200,000 Jews From Death

O'Dwyer'sWRB Report
Bares Daring Efforts

Heroic efforts made possible by parachute,
through underground forces, with the aid of army
personnel and through regular channels sponsored
by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Com-
mittee, for the rescue of Nazi-persecuted Jews,
were revealed this week in a series of reports
made public by non-Jewish as well as Jewish
leaders.

Supplementing . the report submitted last week to
Detroit Allied Jewish Campaign leaders by Dr. James
G. Heller, national chairman of the United Palestine
Appeal, that parachutes were used to drop food and
supplies to Jews behind the lines in enemy territories,
the report of William O'Dwyer, executive director of
the President's Refugee Board, just made public, tells
of heroic activities to aid the needy which were un-
precedented in philanthropic work conducted in the
past.
Among the JDC activities now made known are
regardi•o iin_dprground efforts that were con-
duCted through the Jewish Labor Committee eend the
Histadruth Palestine Jewish Federation of Labor. Each
had received $25,000, and many of their partisans who
were rescued were enabled to come either to the U. S.
or to Palestine by means of these funds.

Prepared Groundwork for Rescue
By supporting Zionist Hachsharah units in Europe
and other activities—including the Poale Zion Trade
Training Schooh, the Jewish Socialist and Bundist
vocational schools as well as ORT institutionthe
JDC activities prepared the groundwork for rescue ef-
forts before the war as well as during the war.
By far- the most amazing story of rescue _efforts
conducted through the JDC relates to the work of
Saly Mayer, a leader of the Swiss Jewish com-
munity and a full-time representative of the JDC
in Switzerland, whose exploits were in part report-
ed in The Jewish News last week.
-
This middle-aged retired Swiss businessman had
persuaded Hitler's agents to cancel the deportation of
200,000 Jews from Hungary—rescuing them from almost
certain death—and to browbeat Nazi agents into re-

,

9,100 Admitted During 1945

During the first nine months of 1945 a total of
9,100 Jewish men, women and children entered
Palestine, while 11,000 were admitted during the
Jewish year 5705. Among the recent newcomers
was a group of 1,305 immigrants who had been
interned on the Island of Mauritius for five years
before they were permitted to enter Palestine and
whose initial accommodation required an expendi-
ture of $480,000. Funds provided by American
Jewry through the UPA are utilized to aid in the
adjustment and rehabilitation of new immigrants,
the construction of housing accommodations for
them, and their ultimate absorption into Palestine.

Local Agencies Depend
On Funds of War Chest

OUR local agencies depend upon the War Chest
funds for support during the coming year.
Here are the local causes included in the War
Chest quota through the Allied Jewish Campaign
of the Jewish Welfare Federation:
Bnai Brith Hillel Foundations at the University
of Michigan and Michigan State College.
Camp Chelsea.
Fresh Air Society.
Hebrew Free Loan Association.
House of Shelter.
Jewish Community Shelter.
Jewish Community Council.
Jelvish Educational Agencies: United Hebrew
Schhools, Farband Folk Schools, Sholem Aleichem
Schools, Arbeiter Ring Schools, Yeshivath Beth
Yehudah.
Jewish Social Service Bureau.
Jewish Vocational Service.
Jewish Welfare Board's Army and Navy Com-
mittee.
Jewish Welfare Federation,
North End Clinic.
Resettlement Service.
War Records Bureau.
Unless the War Chest drive is a success, these
agencies will suffer and their activities may have
to be curtailed.
SUPPORT THE WAR CHEST TO THE UT-
MOST OF YOUR ABILITY.
Give Liberally to and Work for the Success of
the War Chest.

.

proposal that he arrange for relief supplies to be sent
into Germany through the International Red Cross to
keep Jews and other persons alive. Early in 1945, tons
of food furnished by both the WRB and JDC went
into the camps. Refugees coming out of Theresienstadt
and other camps have testified how they owed their
lives to this food.

Mayer also served as the agent through which
funds furnished by the War Refugee Board and
the JDC were supplied to French, Czech, Italian
and other undergrounds. These underground fight-
ers in turn helped Jews to escape to safety.

"The war produced many outstanding Jewish
heroes," Dr. Joseph C. Hyman, JDC vice-president, said,
"but among the greatest must be ranked this quiet,
effective, orthodox Jew, who performed great deeds day
in and day . out in comparative obscurity.. In Wash-
ington, the 'WRB officials regard Mayer as inspired

leasing • another 1,700 Jews from Belsen-Bergen. Fur-
thermore, he won permission to send truckloads of
food to starving inmates of Nazi camps.

JDC Furnished 15 Million to WRB

The most amazing story of humanitarian activities
carried on by ,the JDC refers to the efforts of three
workers—Mr. Mayer, Dr. Joseph J. Schwartz, Europe-
an chairman, and Moses A. Leavitt—in collaboration
with the War Refugee Board. The JDC furnished $15,-
000,000, three-fourths of all funds spent by the War
Refugee Board in its 20 months of existence, from
January 1944 through September 1945.

Invited to Attend JDC Parley
Dr. Hyman said, "We are hoping that Saly Mayer,
who is still very much in the thick of the battle to
bring aid to the Jews cti, Europe, will be able to come
to the U. S. to attend thr annual JDC meeting, Dec. 8."
Another individual whom Dr. Hyman named as an
unsung hero who saved the lives of thousands of Jews,
was Raoul Wallenberg, a non-Jew. Wallenberg, a
young Swedish businessman, proceeded to German-
occupied Hungary to aid in the rescue and relief of
persecuted Jews. Armed with funds furnished by the
JDC, the War Refugee Board, and the Intergovern-
mental Refugee Committee, and with diplomatic status
granted by Sweden, Wallenberg issued Swedish pro-
tective passports to thousands of Jews threatened with
deportation. In all, approximately 20,000 Jews were
saved through this device.

Dr. Hyman reported that Wallenberg, who has not
been heard from in some time, is believed to have
lost his life in these operations.

In 1944, a gateway for escape from the Balkans to
Palestine through , Turkey was technically opened to a
small number of refugees fleeing the Germans. The
escape routes were by boat across the Black Sea from
Romania to Turkey and by rail through Bulgaria.

Foue-Fold Prograni Devised
The sensational reports regarding underground
activities to assist Jews in escaping from the Nazis, to
bring as. many as possible to Palestine and to prevent
mass murders are, in the main, supplemented in
Mr. O'Dwyer's report.

In reporting on activities of the War Refugee Board,
mainly with funds of the JDC, Mr. O'Dwyer states:
"The program planned and developed by the Board
were of four kinds. First, were the measures designed
to sane refugees from persecution and death by ef-
fecting their physical evacuation from enemy territory,
by concealing them . from the enemy, or by arranging
for the extraordinary acquisition of the status of pro-
tected nationalities.

Second, were the more widely aimed psychological
measures which sought to influence the Hitlerite forces,.
particularly their subordinates and satellites, not to
cooperate in the Nazi policy of persecution and ex-
termination of minorities and in the atrocities against
Jews and other civilians.

Third, were the means by which the WRB attempt-
ed to obtain better conditions for the deportees and

54 New Colonies Established

During World War II, 54 new settlements were°
established in Jewish Palestine with the aid of
the Jewish Agency and the Keren Hayesod on
land of the Keren Kayemeth 7-whose source of.
American support is the UPA. An illustration of
the assistance given to agricultural settlements
by the constituents of the UPA, in order to facili-
tate the resettlement of new immigrants from
Eurape, is the recent construction of 11 dwellings,
a children's house and a large barn at Mahar, a
communal settlement in Southern Palestine. The
cost of construction, some $60,000, is being pro-
videded by the Keren Hayesod.

Fourth, were the efforts made to find and establish
temporary havens of refuge for those who could escape
from enemy control."

Gateway of Escape to Palestine

. The WRB indicated that it would raise no objection
to Mayer's entering into further discussions on the
proposal, since he was a Swiss citizen, ,but made it
clear that no ransom transactions could be entered
into or authorized by the U. S. Government.

The report relates how a gateway of eScape from
the Balkans to Palestine was established through Tur-
key. This interesting. portion of the report reveals:

Mayer asked the German representatives to
demonstrate that they had actual power. He order-
ed them to route a trainload of Jews . being trans-
ported to Bergen-Belsen to Switzerland instead.
The Nazis complied, and Mayer secured the entry
of 1,700 saved refugees to Switzerland.

At another point in Mayer's negotiations, he was
advised that 66 trains were ready in Budapest to carry
200,000 Jews to murder camps in Oswiecim. Mayer
called Becher and threatened that either the deporta-
tion order, be cancelled, or the negotiations would be
broken off. The deportation order was cancelled.

Permitted to TranSfer $5,000,000

"In the course of the long drawn-out negotiations,"
Mr. Leavitt said, , "Saly Mayer succeeded in shifting
•rom . discussion of ransom to the consideration of a

for the skill with which he protracted his negotiations.
Jews, and all the civilized world owe him an unpay-
able debt of gratitude.",

detainees in German concentration camps and to sus-
tain their lives until their ultimate rescue or libera-
tion.

Saly Mayer, JDC representative in Switzerland, was
approached by the S.S. commercial representative for
Hungary, Kurt Becher. The Nazi agent, claiming to
be close to Himmler, brought a German offer to halt
the deportation and extermination of Jews in Hungary
far a proper ransom.

Mayer called on the JDC to supply $5,000,000
which he might show for the purpose. The JDC
borrowed the funds from the banks and made this
vast sum available. The State and Treasury Depart-
ments permitted the JDC to transfer the amount.

Parachutes Drop Food;
Refugees Brave Perils

On Jewish land in Palestine, more than 300 agricultural
settlements have been established with the aid of the
Jewish Agency, the Keren -Hayesod and the Keren
Kayemeth, whose source of American support is the
United, Palestine Appeal. The overwhelming majority of
these settlements were founded since the inception of
the UPA in 1925. They have provided a home and a
new life of freedom for large numbers of immigrants.

"The Board succeeded lwin developing a sporadic
flow of - refugees through Turkey. Approximately 7,000
persons were brought out by boat across the Black
Sea from Romania or by rail through Bulgaria, then
across Turkey to Palestine. The rescue operations
were financed and carried out by private American
and Palestinian agencies, under the direction of the
Board's representative in Ankara. By far the largest
number were rescued by the Jewish Agency for
Palestine working with the American Jewish Joint
Distribution Committee. By means of established under-
ground connections developed with infinite care and
the discreet use of funds provided in large measure
from America, refugees were collected, concealed from
the Nazi-controlled Romanian officials and placed on
small vessels in the port of Constanza. Accommoda-
tions on small boats sailing the Black Sea without the
protection of safe conducts from the belligerent powers
were secured at exhorbitant prices. Refugees willing
to face any hazard to attain safe haven were herded
by the hundreds on ships build to carry 20 to 50
passengers. The "Mefkura", carrying 300 refugees from
Romania, was tragically lost when it was sunk by
enemy fire just off the Turkish shores."

