Brigadier A. G. Kenchington, chief of the division of the British Control Commission in Germany, today revealed that he had been forbidden by the British Cabinet to address the second conference of the central Committee of Liberated Jews in the British Zone, which concluded today in ##d Harzberg.
Brigadier Kenchington told a group of Jewish voluntary relief workers who called on him at his headquarters here that he had been ordered not to attend the conference, after he had already decided to attend, on the grounds that the British government refused to recognize the Committee, because it represents both DP Jews living in camps and Jews residing in German communities. The government believes that the Committee should speak for only the DP’s.
The relief officials pointed out to Kenchington that the two groups had decided to unite six weeks ago because they were persecuted equally. They also cited the decision of the International Refugee Organization to treat as “refugees” both DP’s and native German Jews. The British official replied that the decision was not his and “only Atlee himself can change it.”
He also revealed that a section of the Belsen camp, which is occupied solely by Jews, will have to be vacated to make room for German refugees. When the Jewish spokesmen pointed out that such a move might result in incidents, Kenchington replied that no other space was available and that the Germans would be segregated.
The Central Committee conference closed this morning after adopting resolutions asking the British Government to recognize the Committee as the representative of all Jews in the British zone, urging the forthcoming Foreign Ministers conference in London to provide Jewish DP’s in Germany with full legal status, demanding in immediate property restitution law, condemning terrorism in Palestine, and voicing support of the Jewish Agency. Joseph Rosensaft and Norbert Wolheim were re-elected chairman and vice-chairman of the Committee.
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