In mapping future aid for displased Jews in Germany the emphasis must be laid on rehabilitation rather than relief, representatives of the Central Committee of Liberated Jews, voluntary organizations and the German provincial administration in Bavaria stressed today, addressing the second annual conference of the Central Committee.
Dr. Philip Auerbach, Bavarian Commissioner for Racial and Religious Persecutees, reported to the 200 delegates and 500 gussts on the progress of restitution legislation now being drafted in cooperation with U.S. occupation authorities. He also disclosed that he would press for enactment of a law confiscating the wealth accumulated by active Nazis between 1933 and 1945 for use in rehabilitating and resettling DP’s.
Leo Schwarz, retiring JDC director in Germany, reviewed the activities of the organization since the end of the war and said that plans for the current year will be built around an extensive employment program.
Leon Retter, general secretary of the Central Committee, expressed thanks for the help given by the Army last summer and fall, when there was a tremendous influx of refugees from Eastern Europe, but urged that the DP’s generally be given better treatment. He pointed out that Germans received the same clothing ration as the DP’s, although the latter were in rags, while the Germans had stocks of clothing they had obtained from occupied Europe during the war. He praised UNRRA’s relief activities, but said that it had lagged in taking rehabilitation measures.
Most of the speeches by the rank-and-file delegates were devoted to the problems of food, clothing and employment. Reflecting the extent of political activities in the camps, the delegates were seated around special tables, according to their party affiliation, while last year they were grouped according to the camps from which they came.
A bitter struggle over representation on the leadership of the Central Committee developed tonight and had not been resolved at the conclusion of this evening’s session. The battle was precipitated by the Zionist Revisionists, who won 30 percent of the seats in the recent zone-wide elections to the Central Committee and are, therefore, demanding a proportionate share of the offices. All other parties have formed an anti-Revisionist coalition, but agreed to allow one to sit on the 15-man committee which conducted the conference. It is likely that the struggle will be settled by giving the Revisionists at least one seat in the executive committee.
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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.
