Urgent Need to Evacuate Refugees Seen

Dr. James Bernstein, European director of the HIAS-ICA Emigration Association, visiting here, said in an interview today that the plight of Polish Jewish refugees in Baltic countries out shadowed the World War refugee tragedy and declared that action to resettle them was urgently necessary.

“I am familiar with war victim tragedies,” Dr. Bernstein said. “I saw thousands of the after the Great War, in 1920, 1921 and 1922. Warsaw, Lwow and Bucharest had daily to cope with scores of wanderers. But I feel sure there is no comparison between those and the actual pathetic tragedies and hopeless position of the refugees whom I happened to meet in Riga, Kaunas and especially Wilno.

“In Wilno I met hundreds of people of whom every one formerly occupied a distinguished position in Polish Jewry’s social and economic life and who are now uprooted by the war tornado. Whatever may happen to these people, they cannot remain here indefinitely.

“American Jews must not forget that the largest Jewish community in the world whose leading spiritual importance was denied by nobody, is now destroyed and many thousands, including the best men of Polish Jewry, live in unspeakable misery, without hope, exposed to every danger and misfortune.

“HIAS-ICA headquarters have delegated me to Lithuania and Rumania to get acquainted on the spot with the position and do everything possible to further the work of reuniting separated families. The organizations in this part of Europe affiliated with HIAS-ICA are doing their utmost to improve the tragic position and their services are inestimable.

“The wonderful endeavors and energies of these agencies and their skilful exertions to remove the immense difficulties, of which American Jews do not have the slightest idea, deserve the highest admiration. One of my tasks here is to advise HIAS-ICA representatives on the general position regarding the possibilities and requirements for emigration.”