Reporting that 3,546 refugees were moved into new communities during 1939, the National Refugee Service declared today, in a report by Executive Director William Haber, that “it is possible to absorb our quota immigration through an equitable distribution of refugees throughout the country.”
The report, which covers November and December, states that the Resettlement Department, in cooperation with 750 local coordinating committees, moved 234 families consisting of 421 individuals to new homes in November and 250 families numbering 449 individuals in December.
“During the entire year of 1939,” Dr. Haber reported, “a total of 2,139 families consisting of 3,546 individuals moved into new communities. The marked increase in the number of families resettled during the last two months of 1939 is, in no small measure, the result of the successful establishment of a trained field staff and an improved program of interpretation to the refugees.”
Concluding, Dr. Haber said: “From the viewpoint of orderly adjustment of refugee immigrants in the United States, the year 1939 has been significant. Our experience indicates that it is possible to absorb our quota immigration through an equitable distribution of refugees throughout the country.
“We know that refugees are making a rapid adjustment to their American environment and that the local committees in all states are prepared to carry on with even greater effectiveness during 1940.”
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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.
