The
Jewish
Community's
Family
Newspaper
VOL. 8—NO. 17
THE JEWISH NEWS
A Weekly Review
2114 Penobscot Bldg. RA. 7956
of Jewish Events
Detroit 26, Michigan, January 11, 1946
A Prayer to
The Jews of Detroit
On Behalf of the Surviving Jews in the
Former Concentration Camps in Germany
Sent by Josef Rozenzaft, chairman of the
Central Committee representing the 80,000
Displaced Jews in the American, British and
French zones of occupation in Germany, in
care of Hon. William Friedman, president of
the Jewish Welfare Federation of Detroit.
The Jewish Welfare Federation soon will con-
duct the 1946 Allied Jewish Campaign for
the United Jewish Appeal, as part of a na-
tional $100,000,000 drive for the Joint Dis-
. tribution Committee, United Palestine Ap-
peal and National Refugee Service, to help
save the surviving Jews of Europe.
months have passed since we were . "liberated".
For the 80,000 of us in unheated, bare barracks in Bergen-Belsen, Buchen-
wald, Auschwitz, Landsberg and other former Nazi concentration camps
now used for displaced Jews, they were long, heart-breaking months.
For six bitter, bloody years we dreamed of the end of the war and those
first months of peace and freedom. During our blackest days . .. days
in which we saw our wives, our children, our parents, our brothers and
sisters, our comrades, brutally murdered by the Nazi beasts, the thought
ll
.,d vhQ_ end ._, pi the Wes, . sust01.0 :11,5 .T.-eason,to f kght to wi
alive. We were the survivors of a once happy and proud people—a'people
which contributed so much to the civilization of Europe . . . to the civiliza-
tion of the world. We were beaten and robbed, humiliated and tortured;
most of us died but a few of us, always dreaming of the future, managed
somehow to keep on going.
Then came the end of the war! We were no longer beaten or
tortured but we still had no food or clothing or medical supplies. Above
all, we still had no homes. We were labeled "displaced persons" and
kept in the same barracks and the same camps. Our Nazi guards disap-
peared but for us there was no freedom . . . the barbed wire fences were
torn down but we had no place to go. We were the "displaced" and the
unwanted.
America's
Leading
English-
Jewish
Newspaper
34 cogio. 22 $3.00 Per Year; Single Copy, 10c
Inquiry Commission
Hears Plan to Settle
1325,000 in Palestine
WASHINGTON — America's outstanding authorities,
non-Jews as well as Jews, appeared before the Inquiry
Commission on Palestine to testify that tens of thousands
of Jews in the displaced persons' camps in Germany have
no other place to go to but Palestine and that Palestine's
doors must be opened at once for their rehabilitation.
The most sensational testimony during the first two days'
hearings was the statement made by Robert Nathan, who recently
completed an economic survey of Palestine, that the country can
absorb 100,000 Jews immediately.
Mr. Nathan outlined a 10-year plan for the settlement of a
maximum of 1,125,000 Jews.
Dr. Joseph J. Schwartz, European director of the Joint Dis-
tribution Committee, appearing as a witness, described Poland
as a "Jewish graveyard" where anti-Semitism is widespread and
where Jews are "literally sitting on their valises" in their urge
to get to Palestine. Dr. Schwartz emphasized that "tragedy has
strengthened the Jewish attachment to Palestine as a homeland."
Testifying at the public hearings on Monday, Earl G. Har-
rison, American representative on the Intergovernmental. Com-
mittee for Refugees, expressed the hope that the inquiry corn-
mission will strongly recommend international machinery to
carry out its expected proposals on resettlement.
Stating that he had kept closely in touch with the displaced
persons situation since his return from Europe, Harrison further
reiterated the conclusion of his report that "Palestine is definitely
and primarily" the choice of most Jewish survivors in Germany
and Austria. Many have relatives there, he said, and have
experienced such persecution in their homeland that only in
Palestine do they feel sure of a welcome' and of opportunity to
v,rork and live in peace. "For some of the European Jews there
is no decent solution other than Palestine," he said, declaring that
"nothing has occurred since my investigation to cause me to
change my mind in the slightest."
Persuasive Testimony
—International Photo
Rome's Rabbi: signor
David Prato, n e w l y-elected
rabbi of the Jewish community
of Rome, Italy, successor to
Israele Zolli who was convert-
ed to Catholicism after cessa-
tion of hostilities.
Harrison criticized the seem-
ing policy of the Intergovern-
mental Committee on Refugees
"of doing as little as possible
to resettle displaced persons
on the theory that it would
encourage others to consider
themselves as notable.
He hoped the Inquiry Com-
mittee would recommend
wider financial support for the
Intergovernmental Committee
on Refugees than it receives
now solely from the American
and British governments. He
concluded by telling the com-
mittee he was sure they would
find memorandums submitted
Agen-y
Palestine as "a very per-
suasive piece of testimony."
Dr. Schwartz pointed out
that admission to the U. S.
under the existing quota laws,
even in view of President
Truman's recent order, was
not a solution, since about
60,000 Polish Jews are waiting
for release from Germany
alone. With 6,500 visas avail=
able for all Poles, he pointed
out, it would take 10 years to
bring in the Polish Jews even
(Continued on Page 7)
In despair we turn to you Jews of Detroit for help. Help us before
we vanish completely from the face of the earth . . . Starvation and epi-
demics are still taking their toll in our camps . . . A great many of us are
suffering from tuberculosis . • . We have waited for years . we lack the
strength to wait any longer!
We need food, clothing and medical supplies. We want machines
and tools so that we can prepare ourselves for a new life.
They call us the "displaced". We cannot and will not return to our
former homes in Germany, Austria, Poland and elsewhere, where we saw
our wives and children and parents killed in cold blood. We cannot and
will not go back to the homes in which we were beaten, degraded and
tortured. We want to be free ... to know real peace once again. Our
children are still young enough to enjoy a full and happy life—but not
in Germany or Austria or Poland whose soil is red with the blood of our
people. Our only hope is emigration . . . emigration to Palestine where
we can start all over again ... where we can mend and rebuild our broken
lives • .. where our children can learn to forget the horrors of the past.
It is you Jews of Detroit, together with the other Jews in the United
States, who will decide our fate . . . who will determine whether we live
or die. In recent years we have had countless opportunities to die! We
now ask you for an opportunity to live!
We want an opportunity to begin life anew. We can achieve that
only with your generous help. We come to you with the firm conviction
that you will not let us down. We can no longer live in the past. We must
have something to look forward to if we are to survive these days.
::S urvivor of 14: Capt.
Mor
ris Goldberg, returning veteran,
holds his niece, Esther Mingrad,
4, on their arrival from Europe
aboard a troop transport. Little
Esther is the sole survivor of a
family of 14, the others all having
been killed by the Nazis in Po-
land. She is on the way to Cin-
cinnati for adoption by Capt.
Goldberg.
—International
Photo.