Chancellor Leopold Figl paid an unexpected visit to the displaced camp for Jews at Hafendorf this week-end and wished the occupants a “Happy New Year.”
At the British-administered camp where some 1,400 Jews, mostly refugees from Poland, are now sheltered, Figl spoke with former comrades of his concentration camp days. Addressing all the inmates, he expressed the hope that they would soon find permanent homes and security. When he asked whether they had complaints to make about the camp, they shouted “No.”
An official Austrian Government statement to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency denied reports published abroad that the Jews at Hafendorf are forced to do heavy work. It was revealed that several weeks ago the camp commandant assembled the Jews and told them that they should work both as a preparation for their future life in Palestine and also to provide extra food in the camp. The Austrian statement said that about 350 of the displaced Jews volunteered for work in factories and on road construction gangs and that the British authorities had paid them for all labor performed.
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