Eight Jews Stabbed, One Shot by Polish Dp’s at Bergen-belsen Camp; Situation Tense

Eight displaced Jews were stabbed on Wednesday by Polish Dp’s during a football match at the former Bergan-Belsen concentration camp, where both groups are quartered, and another Jew was shot by uniformed Polish members of the camp police, it was revealed here today.

Norbert Wellheim and Bernard Laufer, members of the Central Jewish Committee at Balsen, who have just arrived here, said that the man who was shot, a Jewish but leader at a training farm near the camp, is in serious condition. They also disclosed that on Wednesday evening four Polish police entered the Jewish section of the camp brandishing pistols. They were arrested by Jewish police, who found that one of the four had been involved in an attack in February on three members of the Jewish Central Committee.

Following the attacks, Wellheim said, the situation at the camp, which has been rapidly deteriorating, grew acute and the camp leaders are concerned over whether they can hold the Dp’s in check. As a temporary measure, he stated, the camp administration was urged to arm Jewish police to the same extent that the Poles are armed and to assign a unit of the Jewish Brigade to guard duty at Belsen.

Both Jewish leaders said that the only means of averting a complete morale breakdown of the Dp’s and the threat of disturbances was to move them to Palestine. The deteriorating food situation in the British zone and the British delay in announcing steps to implement the recommendations of the Anglo-American Palestine report are increasing the tension, they warned.