The scenes of welcome in New York and throughout the country on the arrival of survivors of Nazi persecution were cited today by Prof. Joseph Chamberlain, chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Refuges Service, in a statement challenging British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin’s remarks about immigration to the United States in his speech at Bournemouth.
Pointing out that Christian and Jewish refugees are now being admitted to this country at the rate of about 2,000 a month, Prof. Chamberlain declared that the United States is outstanding among nations in having kept its doors open to the oppressed. Speaking on behalf of the National Refugee Service, he said that Mr. Bevin showed by his speech that he was unaware of the humanitarian actions of the American Government and people, that the suggestion that the United States was unwilling to give haven to survivors of Nazism was “a direct contradiction of the facts,” and that the implication that refugees were regarded as a burden here was “false.”
H.H. Lopez-Penha, member of the Dominican Senate, and president of the Dominican Committee for Jewish Immigration, now in the United States as a representative of his government, was also critical of Mr. Bevin’s statements. “I have read with dismay the address of British Foreign Secretary Bevin in which he implies Jews are not wanted anywhere,” he said yesterday. “Pursuing the open-door policy established by our President, Dr. Rafael L. Trujillo Molina, I have come here to confer with organizations interested in the fate of Europe’s Jews and to reproclaim my country’s offer of hospitality to 100,000 of the desperate Jewish victims of Nazi persecution.” He praised President Truman for his assistance to Europe’s displaced persons.
“Mr. Bevin’s insinuation is unjustified,” he asserted, “Jews have demonstrated that they are excellent citizens of countries in which they live. It is believed in the Dominican Republic, and earnestly supported by our President, that European Jews can play an important role in the development of our country. For this reason we welcome them.”
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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.
