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$1,000,000 Coordinating Foundation Set Up; Will Not Finance Goods Transfer

July 20, 1939
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Establishment of an interdenominational corporation to facilitate emigration of refugees, but which definitely rules out financing the transfer of any goods from the Reich, was announced here today in connection with the conference of the Intergovernmental Refugee Committee.

The announcement was made at a press conference in the Foreign Office by Harold Linder, American business man who is one of the group that has participated actively in the planning and the establishment of the corporation. Sir Herbert Emerson, director of the committee and League High Commissioner for Refugees, presided at the conference.

Emphasizing that it was entirely private and non-sectarian, Mr. Linder said the corporation, which is to be known as the Coordinating Foundation, will be set up within the next few days. He declared that the foundation would have at its disposal a capital of $1,000,000, which will come from individuals and organizations. The money, Mr. Linder emphasized, will not be spent for relief or for financing the transfer of any goods from the Reich.

The foundation will have its headquarters at London and will be administered by a directorate of 20, half of them Americans and half Europeans. Mr. Linder said the directorate would include the following Americans: Former Ambassador John W. Davis, Owen D. Young, former Ambassador Dave Hennen Morris, former Governor Nathan L. Miller of New York, Rufus Jones, chairman of the American Friends (Quakers) Service Committee; Paul Baerwald, Dr. Stephen S. Wise, former Justice Joseph M. Proskauer, Lewis L. Strauss and Lessing Rosenwald. Among the British members will be Lord Bearsted, Lionel Cohen, Anthony de Rothschild, Sir Horace Rumbold, former Ambassador to Germany and a member of the Peel Royal Commission, and Sir John Hope Simpson, director of the Refugee Survey of the Royal Institute of International Affairs.

An application was registered with the Board of Trade yesterday for licensing the foundation. The application listed the foundation’ s objects as follows:

1) To cooperate with individuals and organizations engaged in improving the conditions of beneficiaries and in facilitating the emigration of involuntary emigrants from Germany; 2) to cooperate, negotiate and deal with the Intergovernmental Refugee Committee as well as the League of Nations High Commission for Refugees and any government; 3) to endeavor to bring about improvement in the conditions of resident beneficiaries, orderly emigration of involuntary emigrants and protection and transfer of their property.

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