40,000 Jewish Refugees from Eastern Europe Expected During Summer, Rabbi Bernstein Says

Some 40,000 Jews from Poland and other Eastern European countries are expected to enter the U.S. zone of Germany this Summer, Rabbi Philip S. Bernstein, Advisor on Jewish Affairs to Gen. Joseph T. McNarney, said today. He branded as “fantastic and without basis in fact” a statement made earlier this week by a group of American Army officers that if the flow of Jewish refugees is not halted, the Army will eventually have to feed, clothe, and house up to 3,000,000 Jews.

In his first public statement since assuming office, Dr. Bernstein told a press conference here that a news agency report published yesterday which stated that he had advocated the halting or limiting of immigration to the American zone was completely erroneous and that the news agency had already apologized to him.

Pointing out that he had just completed a study of the present influx of Jews from Poland and elsewhere, Dr. Bernstein declared that the “known increase in infiltrees during May was 5,933.” In the same month departures numbered 1,171, leaving an increase of 4,732. This figure has risen somewhat in June, he continued, but will be under 10,000.

He attributed the increase partly to the favorable summer weather and partly to active anti-Semitism in Poland. He said that the Polish Government was opposed to anti-Semitism but was unable to halt it. He cited the Government’s attempts to restore Jewish property as one of the factors which is causing anti-Jewish violence.

“Eighty thousand Polish Jews who fled to Russia have been repatriated,” Dr. Bernstein asserted. “They are returning destitute and to a hostile environment where they find no possibility of re-establishing their lives. These 80,000 plus an additional 60,000 who are eligible for repatriation plus a small number in Poland who survived the war constitute the principle group from whom infiltration may be expected during the year. The total possible number will amount to 150,000 not 3,000,000 as reported.

“The suggestion that all the Jews in the Soviet Union might seek to move to the American zone is utter nonsense. The Soviet Union does not permit citizens to emigrate. A handful of old-time Russian Zionists may possibly wish to go to Palestine, but the great bulk brought up under the Soviet regime have indicated no desire to emigrate,” he declared.

Stating that he believed that the establishment of facilities for the newly-arriving refugee Jews can be done without disturbing the basic situation, he added: “If it should impose some alight extra burdens on the German economy, this would not be without justification. It was the Germans who robbed these people of their possessions, murdered their families and spread the poison of Nazi anti-Semitism throughout Europe.”