British Reiterate Objections to Including German Jews Within Refugee Body’s Scope

The British Government believe that the Jews in Germany and Austria should be cared for by a special Jewish relief organization, rather than by the new international refugee body to be established under the aegis of the United Nations, it was stated here today by Sir George Rendel, a member of the British delegation to the U.N. Committee on Refuges and Displaced Persons.

The British objection to inclusion of the Austrian and German Jews now in their home countries in the category of “refugees” is motivated by the fear that the Slavic states would also demand assistance in resettling their nationals on their own territory, Rendel told a press conference. He added that “it would be a dangerous principle to create a new nationality for a specific race or religion because it had been persecuted.”

Rendel said that the British were “most favorably inclined towards Jewish relief activities” and referred to ” the grave injustice” arising from the Czechoslovak Government’s decision to treat as Sedates Germans, Jews of German culture.

Sir Hector McNeil, British Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, who heads the British delegation at the Refugee Committee, which is concluding its sessions tomorrow, told the assembled reporters that he hoped that the present differences between the British and American Governments regarding the organizational set-up of the new international refugee agency would be thrashed out in the U.N. Social and Economic Council so that it could be established in the Fall of this year. He expresses the opinion that re-settlement of the refugees and displaced persons could begin in the Winter.