Some 10,000 Jewish and 250,000 non-Jewish “homeless aliens” remain in West Germany and must for the most part be integrated into German economic life, it was stressed at the first joint conference of all major relief agencies working in this country. Chances of mass emigration of these DP’s are considered slight.
At the conference, the delegates of Jewish and other American social service agencies sat down at one table with the major German welfare organizations for the first time. The 32 non-German agencies have long been members of a coordinating body, the Council of Voluntary Agencies, currently presided over by James P. Rice, director for Germany of the Joint Distribution Committee.
The Central Welfare Agency of Jews in Germany was represented by its executive director, Dr. Berthold Simonshon of Hamburg, who gave an account of his group’s performance in striving to overcome the difficulties that face the postwar Jewish community in Germany. Both the Rev. Gerhard Dietrich, of the Lutheran World Federation, and Countess Etta von Waldersee, of the German Red Cross, paid special tribute to the accomplishments of the Central Welfare Agency.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.