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THE JEWISH NEWS

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Friday, Mardi 22, 194

You Will Decide!

$100,000,000 Needed to Save
1,400,000 Jewish Survivors

A DECADE AGO seven and one-half million European
Jews grieved and trembled under the threat of exter-
mination. A sentence of death had been visited upon
them and 6,000,000 men, women and children succumb-
ed. The lists of the doomed were nearing exhaustion
when the Allied victory checked the strokes of the ex-
ecutioner. Hitler's work was not quite done. Only
four Jews in five had been dispatched. One in five
still breathed.
It now has become clear that victory was a mile-
stone, not the end of the road for the persecuted. The
1,400,000 Jews who remain have not been saved. They
have only been reprieved.
For 10 years and more they stood up against the
bitterest blows of the Nazis. Today, they are at the
end of their resources, spiritual and physical.
Fate of Survivors Up To Us
Whether these Jewish survivors are to be truly
saved is for us to decide. The complicated, impersonal
machinery of government cannot do it. UNRRA can-
not do it. We must. Want of heart and determination
will consign these survivors 'to the doom the Nazis
planned. We have only to ignore their need. Hunger,
cold and blighted hopes will do the rest.
In recognition of this emergency the United Jew-
ish Appeal is asking for an unprecedented sum this
year: $100,000,000.
Detroit, must assess itself $2,000,000 as its share.
These 100,000,000 dollars constitute an invincible
armada. They will go forth to conquer in the name
of mercy, to redeem for the cause of humanity. They
will heal the sick, lift up the weak, rescue
the oppressed and feed and clothe the hun-
gry and cold.
And if this colossal task is to convey
lasting benefits they also must provide a
country, a home and a welcome, in Pales-
tine, in the United States, in other havens,
for the oppressed, for those who cannot go
back to their former homes, for those who
have no homes to go back to.
Must Assist Refugees in U. S.
And at the same time, we must con-
tinue to serve those who helped to liberate
the Jews overseas—the Jewish men and
women in the armed forces and those al-
ready discharged. In addition, we must
assist those refugees who are already in
America and the newcomers who will come to our
shores in 1946.
This $100,000,000 will convey one more precious
benefit. It will purchase time—time for government
aid to get under way; time for rehabilitation and self-
help; time to achieve the dignity of sell-reliance;
time from the grave.
Surely our tried and suffering brethren amply
ddserve the sovereign gifts of life. Their fate is m
our hands. The Jews .of Detroit, and of all America,
will pronounce the final sentence on the remnants of
European Jewry.
Because this is a campaign for survival, because
we ask you to give sacrificially, because we ask you
to give sums far above normal, we promise you that
we will not consider this a normal gift. Never again
will we refer to what you gave in 1946.
Men, women and children . . . 1,400,000 of them
. . . await your decision: Who shall live and who
shall die!
YOU WILL DECIDE!
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*
People Without Homes, Prospects
Do you know what "displaced" means? It denotes
people driven out of their homes, their towns, and
their country. Penniless people in exile without prop-
erty, or jobs. People without neighbors, without pros-
pects, without food, without rights. People whose only
memories are cold, hunger and fear.
For most of the Jewish people the lands of their
birth have become alien territory. Only a few care
even to attempt to return. They cannot live among
the graves of their murdered loved ones. They can-
not eat food raised in the soil which was drenched
with the blood of their brothers. Nor have they
the strength to play the role of the scapegoat in lands
where intolerance and human misery walk hand in
hand.
Are they to pass the rest of their existence in
camps, in islands for the unwanted? What is to be-
come of them?
YOU WILL DECIDE:

*

150,000 Survivors Are Children

Those who could not work did not eat in Hitler's
Europe. That is why, out of 1,400,000 Jews left alive
in Western Europe today, only 150,000 are children.
They are children who have seen horrors that no
child should ever have seen. To Americans it is mis-
leading to describe them by the word "children," for
they are old with the millennium of suffering. Their
eyes are haunted, their stomachs distended, their bones
covered with the parchment of near death.
They are children with bandages, whose little
hungry bodies are wracked by tuberculosis, scurvy

and pellagra. Their schoolroom has been
war. Their playground, rubble heaps
often littered with human bones.
The shape of Jewish life in Europe
for generations will be colored by what
we do to restore these children to a nor-
mal existence. Their brothers and sis-
ters when exposed to the sun, the sun of
the firmament and the sun of freedom,
recovered quickly in Palestine and else-
where and became useful, decent citizens.
But they must know the healing
warmth of the sun's direct rays, not the
cold metallic glint from shell fragments,
bayonets and barbed wire entanglements.
Subject to Special Problems
All our people in Europe are sub-
ject to special problems over and above
those which their non-Jewish neighbors
must face. They are without property
or capital or the tools of their trade,
they are without families and they are
devoid of health.
In many countries they are never
Surveyers in Palestine
allowed to become citizens of the nations
work on a new Karen Hayesod settlement on Jewish National Fund
where they lived. They consequently
land. This project is sponsored with funds of the United Jewish
are not eligible for work or relief. In
Appeal of which the United Palestine Appeal is a beneficiary agency.
many places their struggle for life must
be carried on against anti-Semitism.
homes, and the Polish Jewish community will be
It is difficult to imagine a people whose balance
reborn!
sheet is more unfavorable. The only resources they
In France, 60,000 needy Jews will be supported,
have are superhuman courage, the determination to
as they are being supported today, until they can sup-
live—and American Jewish good will.
port themselves. In Belgium and the Netherlands,
American Jewish good will has thus far proved
thousands of stateless Jews will be sustained, and the
their primary solid, concrete asset. Will it be suffi-
nationals, whose plight is only a little less acute, will
cient to rescue the Jews of Europe from death?
receive supplementary help over and above govern-
ment aid.
YOU WILL DECIDE!
In Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria, where 680,000
*
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*
of Europe's surviving Jews are concentrated, more
The outstanding fact
than half are in need of help.
about government action
In Italy, 15,000 refugees will be maintained until
with relation to our people
emigration can be arranged for them; the Jewish com;.
is that the machinery of
munity institutions, on which depend the welfare and
government and its agen-
the very lives of the Italian Jews will be subsidized.
cies has thus far proved too
In Czechoslovakia, 42,000 survivors; in Yugoslavia,
ponderous for the task of
14,000; in Greece, 5,700 penniless refugees will be•
emergency rescue. The gov-
given the aid they need so desperately to keep body
ernments are busy pursuing
and soul together.
those guilty of crime. Mean-
In Shanghai, where JDC supported the refugee
while, the victims of crime
Jewish population throughout the war, 12,000 will be
must wait for private aid
fed and housed until they find other havens.
and for UNRRA.
Homes for Homeless Children
UNRRA does not oper-
The homeless children, wherever they are—will
ate, does not give help, does
find new homes in 1946. Wherever possible, they will
not spend money in the
be sent to Palestine, to America; to other places of
countries where eighty per-
refuge. Those who still remain in non-Jewish homes
cent of the Jews are stranded. The paying countries
and institutions will be returned to the Jewish fold.
like France, Belgium and Holland do not admit
Orphanages, schools will be built and must be main-
UNRRA. It has no right to operate in Germany and
tained. The youngest generation of Europe's Jews—
Austria except in behalf of persons still in camps. In
the future of our people—will be one of JDC's prime
countries where UNRRA operates, such as Poland,
concerns.
the aid covers only 10 percent of the needs.
This, then, is the task which JDC has set itself
in 1946—to keep alive a whole people. It must not
Only one-fifth of our people remain alive. Loose
be forced, through lack of funds, to weigh one man's
talk about what the government will do will not help
need against another's hunger, one • child's bloated
them. UNRRA is expanding and we want it to suc-
belly against another child's tears.
ceed. But even when UNRRA finally begins to oper-
One of the shocking failures of our victory has
ate in full effectiveness, even when the Jews of Eu-
been the lack of a satisfactory answer to the simple
rope receive their fair and full share of UNRRA assist-
question every European Jew is asking himself now,
ance, they still will need far more than their neigh-
and has asked himself for 10 years: Where can I go?
bors—for they start with so much less than their
What will welcome me?
neighbors.
Palestine Plays Leading Role
More Succumb Every Hour
In the work of rescuing Jews from tyranny, Pal-
Eventually, it is hoped, governmental aid will
estine has played a leading role. The enthusiasm
shown by the people of Palestine in offering the op-
meet the needs of the Jews of Europe. This does not
portunities of life to their persecuted brethren is uni-
help now when our dying brethren need help.
que.
They have managed to cling to life through the
With funds provided by the United Palestine Ap-
peal, the people of Palestine have purchased land, they
bloodiest oppression in history. Now, every hour,
have opened schools, and created new industries for
more and more succumb. Are they all to perish as
refugees. More important still, they have taken under
Hitler willed?
their personal care those who were too old, too young
YOU WILL DECIDE!
or too weak.
We are all happy over President Truman's recent
This year the Joint Distribution Committee needs
directive authorizing a limited immigration to the
a minimum of $58,000,000 to check the cruel aftermath
U. S. But most of the Jews of
of war and to continue the work
Europe want to go to Palestine.
which has made the name "Joint" a
symbol of hope and comfort for
The immediate task is to
Europe's Jews.
provide the funds necessary to
During the Nazi era, JDC sup-
maintain those already there and
plies kept hundreds of thousands
to help absorb the estimated
alive in occupied, neutral and Allied
minimum of 20,000 who will ar-
territories; its funds effected the mir-
rive during the coming year.
acle of rescue for many. After liber-
This is the work of the
ation its agents were the first repre-
UPA. To do it successfully,
sentatives of • a private relief agency
UPA must receive $43,800,000
to enter the concentration camps, to
from us in America. This will
bring, in material from American
confer countless benefits. It will
Jewry's message of brotherhood to the
pay the cost of immigration,
shattered inmates.
housing and relief for refugees.
Its money has reached into every
It will help maintain and . ex-
country of Europe, bringing food,
pand the largest Jewish farm-
clothing, shelter, medication, tools—
ing community in the world. It
the very breath of life—to starving
will provide land and housing for
multitudes. Its chartered ships have
30,000 Palestinian veterans dis-
carried thousands of the homeless
charged from the British Army.
away from the Jewish graveyards of Europe, to the
It also will support the religious institutions of
land of Jewish rebirth.
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*
*
Palestine and the thousands of people who are depend-
ent upon them. It will provide schooling for children.
Prologue to Great JDC Drama
It will supply care for war invalids and the families
This was the prologue to the great drama of hu-
of those who perished in the war for freedom.
man reconstruction for which JDC has set the stage
Several hundred thousand refugees have entered
and which awaits only the signal from American
the U. S. and have been absorbed into American life.
Jewry.
That this was done successfully is due largely to the
When that signal is given, the work of
work of the National Refugee Service.
caring for the 60,000 displaced Jewish peo-
The most important contribution of the NRS, how-
ple in Germany and Austria will be expand-
ever, has been the work of helping the stranger under-
ed to its necessary strength. Clothing, food,
stand America, and, in turn, interpreting the stranger
medication, books will flow into the camps
to our citizens. That these people have been received
in ever-increasing quantities.
in American life is a tribute to the patient, devoted,
Retraining and rehabilitation programs
statesmanlike efforts of NRS.
will transform slave men into free men, cap-
Two major factors enter the work of NRS this
able of supporting themselves. This pro-
year.
We may expect an increase in immigration fol-
gram will be directed toward the eventual
lowing President Truman's directive expediting the
removal of these uprooted people from the
of displaced persons and refugees.
scene of their tragic experiences, their emig- entrance
To sustain the American phase of assistance to
ration to Palestine and to other havens of
victims of oppression, the NRS estimated that it
refuge.
would require a minimum of $1,082,025 in 1946.
In Poland, Where 70,000 of the surviv-
These are the agencies, the channels, through which
ing 80,000 Jews are in desperate straits, JDC
American Jewry must send life-saving_ assistance to
shipments will bring food for the hungry,
the Jewish survivors of Europe. This, then, is the
warm garments to clothe their nakedness,
program for the survival of 1,400,000 Jews.
tools to enable them to fight the everyday
This is the time for decision.
battle of life. The 150,000 refugees now in
YOU WILL DECIDE!
the Soviet Union will be returned to their

UPA Builds New Settlements :

