The State Department today told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that the reason that Dec. 22, 1945 was set as the date on which displaced Jews must have been resident in the American zone in Germany in order to be eligible to apply for U.S. visas, was because on that day President Truman issued his directive for speeding the immigration of refugees.
The Visa Division of the Department explained that unless a specific date had been set, displaced persons from all over would have flocked into the U.S. zone. Those who arrived after Dec. 22, a spokesman said, will have to wait their turn until all of the 160,000 DP’s now in the U.S. zone have had an opportunity to apply.
This ruling, in effect, bars from U.S. visas most of the Jewish infiltrees from Poland who have arrived in Germany in recent months.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
