Neighbors of a transit camp for Jewish emigrants from the Soviet Union continued today to protest its location in a densely populated area. “We will not cease to protest against this camp which is a danger for all of us, particularly for our children.” Angelika Kneth, 34. mother of four children said. “Two of my children have to pass heavily guarded policemen every day on their way to school,” she said.
Kari Kneth, her husband, 37, said: “I cannot understand this decision by the authorities to build a camp like this in this heavily populated suburb.” People living nearby said they were afraid of possible Arab terrorist attacks. Residents of apartment blocs only 20 meters away distributed leaflets asking Vienna’s Socialist Mayor Leopold Gratz to relocate the camp. After visiting the camp situated near a church and a kindergarten, Gratz promised to do so.
The Austrian Red Cross, without previous announcement, had transferred the transit camp from a former army barrack in Woellersdorf to Simmering. The population reacted with sharp protests. But Interior Minister Otto Roesch said only last week that there was no danger to people living near the camp. After closing down the Schoenau Camp run by the Jewish Agency the authorities will have to find a new camp for the Jewish emigrants for the third time in less than a year. The Vienna daily “Kronenzeitung” said the Red Cross has spent already 436 million schillings to find a new location.
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.
