The physical condition of the 22,000 displaced Jews in Italy is fairly good, although their morale is rather low because of the delay in emigration, Jacob Trobe, Joint Distribution Committee director in Italy, who is now in Paris, told a Jewish Telegraphic Agency correspondent.
Mr. Trobe estimated that there were some 8,000 Jews living in camps, 7,500 on training farms, and about 6,500 in towns and cities. He said that there were about 60 training farms in Italy scattered from Bari to Turin. The Jews on these farms are self-sufficient and are on extremely friendly terms with the Italian people, he stated.
The condition of the 45,000 Italian Jews is much the same as that of the remainder of the population–unemployment is widespread–Trobe asserted. He disclosed that the J.D.C. is supplying half of the 4,000,000 lira budget of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities, the legally recognized representative of Italian Jewry. The Union, the J.D.C. and the British Central Fund have each contributed 2,000,000 lira toward the establishment of a rabbinical college, headed by Dr. David Prato, Chief Rabbi of Rome.
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.
