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Friday, August 23, 1946

THE JEWISH NEWS

LaGuardia Promises Aid
To All Jews Fleeing Poland

Page Tli,ree

Cyprus — Detour on Road to Promised Land:
History of Tragic Jewish Experiences on Island

Challenges British Objection to UNRRA Extending Assist-
ance; Classes Refugees as DPs; Will Push Plea
for U. S. to Admit 100,000

GENEVA, (JTA)—Fiorello LaGuardia, director-general of
UNRRA, declared at the UNRRA General Council meeting here that
1,200 to 1,500 Jews were fleeing daily from Poland to Germany. He
added that UNRRA will continue to give assistance to these refugees
unless the Council specifically rules against it.
LaGuarda was taking issue with a British government state-
ment holding that Jews arriving from Poland are not eligible for
UNRRA help. He declared "A persecuted people leaving a country—
and that is the case of Jews leaving Poland—are entitled to benefit
from all the help and assistance that UNRRA is permitted to give
displaced people."
As a "conservative etsimate", he continued, 60,000 to 70,000
Jews would flee from Poland. "We, as a humanitarian organization,
cannot ignore that problem. I am sure that those who will come
to the American zone will receive food and shelter." He absolved
the Polish government of being involved in pogroms in its territory.
UNRRA to Continue Help to DPs for Six Months -
The UNRRA Council at its concluding session voted to continue
to care for displaced persons until the new International Refugee
Organization is set up, despite the fact that UNRRA is being liqui-
dated at the end of this year. UNRRA aid for the DPs will not,
however, extend beyond June, 1947. UNRRA also plans to assist
all those classified as refugees in the draft. constitution of the I. R. 0.
This would include the native Jews of Germany and Austria.

U. S. Urged to Support Continuation of UNRRA
NEW YORK, (JTA)—President Truman, assistant secretary of.
State Clayton, head of the U. S. delegation to the UNRRA Council.
and UNRRA Director-General LaGuardia have been urged to assume
United States .leadership in pressing for uninterrupted continuation
of relief and rehabilitation services for the duration of the present
world-wide emergency. -
The appeal, motivated by the impending dissolution of UNRRA,
vas contained in a telegram to President Truman and cables to
Clayton and LaGuardia, which were initiated by the National Council
of Jewish Women and co-signed by: Friends Committee on National
Legislation, National Council of Church Women, National Council
of Catholic Women, Women's Union League. National Federation of
Temple Sisterhoods, and National Council of Negro Women.

This peaceful scene on the
waterfront of Limasol, Island of
Cyprus, does not reveal the
tragedies now being enacted there
as a result of deportation by Bri-
tish military, forces of 1,258 Jews
whom they refused to permit to
settle in Palestine.

The Universal .Jewish Encyclo-
pedia presents these facts about
the island:

Cyprus, a large island in the
eastern part of the Mediterranean
Sea., about 100 miles from the
coast of Syria, has been a British
dependancy since 1878. Some
commentators have identified it
with the Kittim of the Bible (Gen.
10:4 and six other places).
It is probable that the Israe-
lites settled in the island as early
as the time of Kings, perhaps in
consequence of the maritime in-
terests of Solomon and his suc-
cessors; but the first references
to Jews there came from Apo-
crypha (I Macc. 15:23; II Macc.
10:13). According to Philo (Ist
cent. C. E.), there was a large
Jewish population in his day. Dur-
ing the period of the second Tem-
ple their situation was generally

. .
favorable, except that they suf-
fered some losses during the wars
of Alexander Jannaeus (103-76
B. C. E.)
The Jews of Cyprus took a
prominent part in the revolt
against the Roman empire in the
reign of Trajan (115-17 C. E.).
No particulars are known about
this war. The account of Dio Cas-
sius, the Roman historian, is cer-
tainly incorrect in asserting that
the Jews killed 240,000 Greeks in
Cyrus alone. Trajan sent his gen-
eral Martius Turbo, who had al-
ready suppressed the revolt in
Egypt and Cyrene, against the
rebel forces in Cyprus, whom he
quickly crushed. After this event
the antipathy of the islanders was
said to have been so great toward
the Jews, that a special law was
passed which not only forbade
Jews to disembark on the island.
Nevertheless, by 610 the num-
ber of Jews in Cyprus was so
large that they are mentioned as
a distinct contingent who joined
the islanders in their revolt
against the Byzantine amperior
,Heracliu*. Benjamin of Tudela
(12th century) found a number

of Jewish comunities on the Is-
land, and noted that one of them
had followed the unusual custom
of observing the Sabbath from
Saturday morning to Sunday
morning.

During the latter part of the
numerous attempts were made to
settle Jews from countries of op-
pression upon the island of Cyp-
rus. In 1883 several hundred Rus-
sian Jewish families settled in
Orides, and in 1885 a group' came
from Romania. In 1897 further
attempts were made with the aid
of the Jewish Colonization -asso-
ciation (ICA) and again in 1900
by Davis Trietsch, but without
success. In the 20th century there
were three Jewish colonies on the
island, at Margo and Kyklia, both
of which possessed Jewish schools,
and at Cholmaki. A few German
Jewish families have settled there
since 1933,

In 1900, 36 Jews lived at Margo.
In 1901 the Jewish population was
63 males and 56 females.

The 1930 census showed.' that
there were 31 Jews in Cyprus in
that year.

Czech Guard
Kills Woman

In DP Camp

Influx of Refugees to Vienna
Drops from 1,000 to 200
Daily; Poles Get Plea

PRAGUE (JTA)—One Jewish
woman was killed and one was in-
jured seriously when a guard at a
camp at Broumov for Polish Jews
allegedly accidentally shot them,
it is reported here.
A report from Vienna says that
during the several days when the
Polish-Czesh border was closed the
number of refugees entering Vien-
na dropped to 200 daily from the
high of more than 1,000 who had
been arriving every day.

Palestine Chief Rabbi Asks
Poles Fight Anti-Semitism
WARSAW (JTA) — Chief Rabbi
Isaac Herzog of Palestine, has is-
sued an appeal here to Poles to
fight anti-Semitism and urged the
Polish government to aid fleeing
Jews reach Palestine.
A Foreign Ministry sopkesman
revealed that between 20,000 and
25,000 Jews have left Poland ille-
gally since the July 4 pogrom at
Kielce. He added that the govern-
ment had granted 4,764 emigration
visas during the first seven months
of the year.

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3 JWV Delegates
Named to World
Vet Meet in Paris

The national executive commit-
tee of Jewish War Veterans of the
United States, by unanimous vote,
at a quarterly meeting held in New
York, accepted an invitation ex-
tended by the World Union of Jew-
ish Combatants to send a delega-
tion to a Paris Conference of the
World Jewish War Veteran group.
Maj. Maxwell Cohen, national
commander of the Jewish War
Veterans, a veteran of World War
I and II, was designated to head
the American delegation to the
conference, scheduled for the lat-
ter part of September. He will be
accompanied by Frederick S. Har-
ris of Meriden, Conn., a former
national commander, and Jacob S.
Sprie, state commander of the De-

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