Empty This Camp
IAA Round-Table
(Continued From Page 11)
Distribution Committee that nothing that Mr. Locker or I can say
can fully get across the urgency of this emigration. The word,
escape, might more easily explain it. As far as the JDC is con-
cerned, we based our budgetary requirements for 1949 on a n
immigration of 120,000. Today, that figure is completely un-
realistic.
.
Now we find ourselves spending at the rate of from $2,500,000
to $3,000,000 a month for emigration. I'm glad we're being called
upon to spend so much more than we had anticipated for emigra-
tion. BUT, we haven't got the money. And if we don't get the
money very soon, ships won't move. And if the ships don't move,
the port of Marseille will be clogged with cruelly disappointed,
tragically stranded people, who will have to sit on their suitcases
and wait, and wait.
MR. MORGENTHAU : We have been talking of an immigration
of 250,000 into Israel this year. Where are these Jews coming
This DP camp for homeless European Jews near Salzburg, Austria, is muddy, grim
and desolate. Camps like this will be emptied this year Through American Jewry's
from?
support of the nationwide $250,000,000 United Jewish Appeal campaign. Detroit
Jews may help in this monumental project by contributing to the forthcoming Allied
JUDGE ROTHENBERG: I have some figures which will help
Jewish Campaign.
fill out the picture. Here' the list on this year's immigration.
There will be 60,000 from DP camps; 20,000 from France and
other Western European countries; 15,000 from Bulgaria; 5,000
from Yugoslavia; 20,000 from Czechoslovakia; 10,000 from
Poland ; 20,000 from Romania; and another 20,000 from Hun-
gary. Then there will be 45,000 from North Africa and other
Moslem countries and 25,000 from Shanghai, Men and other
lands.
I don't see how we can expect the State of Israel alone to
carry the burden of receiving and absorbing an immigration that
represents a n increase in population of more than 30 per cent.
.
By their heroism and their sacrifice, the Jews of Israel opened
the gates. They have adopted an austerity standard of living to
help find homes and jobs for the new immigrants.
We in America must have the kind of generosity that will
help the people of Israel meet the problem of this historic home-
coming of hundreds of thousands.
MR. MORGENTHAU : Mr. Locker, at the beginning of last year
we promised to bring 75,000 Jews into Israel and we actually
managed to get 130,000 into the country. Why should immigra-
tion and reception present such a far more serious problem in
1949?
MR. LOCKER: Well, Mr. Morgenthau, we had a different situa-
tion last year. It was comparatively easy to absorb the first 100,-
000 in 1948. It was easy, despite the fact that we were engaged
in a life and death struggle with powerful invaders.
In the midst of this war, something strange and unexpected
happened. The Arabs left town and city. As a result, there were
many houses ready and waiting for the newcomers. In Jaffa, for
example, we were able to place more than 30,000 immigrants.
Furthermore, the war was at its peak. Many newcomers were
able to take the places of men in the army. Now, we can hope
that the shooting war is over and we all look forward eagerly
to the establishment of a permanent peace.
But this presents us with a different set of conditions and
needs. At the present time, more than 40,000 new immigrants are
living in reception centers—and many of them do not have a roof
over their head- We have many thousands living in tents—prac-
tically under the open sky.
The Jews cannot merely be brought to the shores of Israel
and dumped there. They must be helped to earn their own living.
They must be helped quickly to stand on their own feet so that
Support the
they may be removed forever from the budget of world Jewish
fund-raising.
'
May I also remind you of our agricultural settlement plans.
We must establish hundreds of new settlements. Otherwise our ,
territory will never be really secure. The tasks of settlenient,
housing and welfare—and all the tasks that contribute to final
absorption and economic independence — represent the most
staggering program of human revival in all Jewish history.
MR. WARBURG: It is quite evident to all of us that this year we
are engaged in an enormous undertaking. We are being called
upon for one great effort to solve these problems in a permanent
and constructive way in Israel. We are being asked to bring the
homeless to a land where they can become free and independent.
Most important of all—independent of any charity or relief work.
For more than ten years, we worked and gave to bring the
Jews -overseas to the threshold of a great copportunity. They're
on that threshold now. Shall we say to them that we just can't
give them that last measure of help that will bring them across
to the land of their hopes?
MR. MORGENTHAU: I am sure that everyone of us will want
to give Mr. Warburg the only answer that can meet this situation.
We have had difficulties in getting started with the 1949 cam-,
paign. There have been delays. That is all the more reason why
we must go forward at a greater tempo than ever before. The
road is clear now.
- I am sure that as in the past, we will have the wholehearted
cooperation and devoted service of every Jewish leader and
every member of every Jewish houshold in the nation.
MR. LOCKER: We feel confident that the Jewish communities
of this great country will unite in full support of the United
Jewish Appeal, as they have done before. Let no one under-
estimate the great role which the Jewish communities of the _
United States played in our victory for a free Israel. We know
they will do no less in helping us meet the problems of peace.
MR.
MORGENTHAU: We have so much to do and so little time.
The greatest blessing of homecoming for masses of Jews may
prove to be the severest blow to the survival and growth of
the State of Israel, unless we do our part. We have done it before
and we can do it again!
THE JEWISH NEWS-12
Friday, March 25, 1949
$250,000,000 Campaign
for the Greatest Homecoming in History
NIT 1110 JEWISH APPEA
For the resettlement and !rehabilitation programs of Joint Distribution Committee, United Palestine Appeal
and United Service for New Americans
EN DETROIT — THE 1949 ALLIED JEWISH CAMPAIGN
HEADQUARTERS — 250 W. LAFAYETTE — WOODWARD 5-3939