Dp Camps Could Be Closed by June Next Year, Carusi Tells Congressional Body

Displaced Persons Commission chairman Ugo ###si told the House Immigration Sub-Committee today that he thought Jewish dis###ced persons camps in Europe could probably be closed by June 30, 1950. ,p/>Dr. William Haber, recently retired adviser on Jewish affairs to the U.S. ###ater commanders in Germany and Austria, made such a prediction in his final re###t to the Secretary of the Army. The chairmen of the Sub-Committee, Rep. Francis Walter of Pennsylvania, asked Carusi if he concurred.

Carusi replied that he thought it quite likely that the camps could be closed that time. He said the present rate of exodus from the Jewish camps is over 5,000 month. Most of the Jewish DP’s plan to go to Israel, he stated, adding that from ###e very beginning that had been the desire of some 80 or 90 percent of the DP’s.

In a discussion of the features making the present law administratively unmark able, Carusi said the fixing of the deadline at Dec. 22, 1945 “Just makes no sense ### all.” In response to questions by Rep. Emanuel Celler, Carusi said that changing ### deadline to April 17, 1947–when the camps were closed by Army authorities to further DP Infiltration–would make approximately 95,000 more displaced persons eligible or admission under the bill. About 78,000 of these would be Jewish, he said, and most of the remainder Catholic.

Rep. Ed Gossett of Texas charged that “our Jewish friends are loudest in criticizing the DP law when they are actually favored.” He said he could not understand why Jewish groups complained about discriminatory features of the present law when it had admitted 2,749 Jews compared to 2,425 Catholics and 689 Protestants, although the proportion of Jewish DP’s is about 22 percent of the total still in camps.

He drew a sharp reply from Carusi who said that the early admission of a large number of Jews was because “Jewish agencies worked harder” and not because the bill was fair. Carusi explained that the Jews had used the large German quota and were thus early to be certified and admitted. He said he felt the present DP Act, which restricts immigration largely to Balts and farmers, is discriminatory to the Jews. Rep. Gossett then asked if there were any immigration restrictions on Jews entering Israel and was told by Carusi that there were not.