Member of the Austrian Government today Joined Bronislaw Teichholz, president of the Committee for Refugees and Former Inmates of Concentration Camps, in broadcasting “a message of gratitude” to American Jewry for the aid sent to refugees in Austria through the Joint Distribution Committee.
Teichholz revealed that more than 140,000 Jewish refugees have passed through Austria to date on route to Palestine and Western Europe. About 20,000 transient refugees from East European countries are still in Austria, he said, “There exists no expression of thanks for the aid American Jewry has given to the European Jews,” he said. His address was broadcast by short-wave to the United States.
Minister of Interior Oscar Helmer, participating in the broadcast, declared that Palestine is the goal of thousands of Jewish refusals from Poland, Hungary and Rumania who do not wish to remain in Austria. He said that his country admitted the refugees for humanitarian reasons and was offering them food and shelter on The same basis it would aid needy Austrians. He urged American Jews to continue their efforts to resettle the refugees “permanently in Palestine.” State Secretary Ferdinand Graf, who also participated in the broadcast, appealed to all nations to “stop the brutal pressure and peaceless wandering of the Jews.”
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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.