Clothing and Emigration Are Chief Problems Facing Berlin’s 7,500 Jews

Emigration and clothing are the two greatest problems facing the 7,500 Jews in Berlin, a spokesman for the Jewish Community Council told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency today.

He said that practically all of the Berlin Jews are inadequately clothed, and added that little was being done to remedy the situation. He disclosed that Soviet authorities have promised that the greater part of the clothing to be manufactured in Saxony in the next few months would be allocated to Berlin, with the majority of the apparel going to the Jewish community. However, it will be some time before the factories in Dresden, Leipzig and Chemnitz will be producing sufficient clothing to export supplies to Berlin.

The community spokesman revealed that the Jews plan to appeal to the Allied Control Council to permit postal communication with the outside world. The Council last week approved, in principle, the establishment of postal service between Germany and the rest of the world, but indicated that it would be several months before it will be allowed. Meanwhile, the Jews here are unable to communicate with their relatives abroad, from most of whom they have not heard in several years.

(The Post Office Department announced in Washington yesterday that residents of the United States can now send letters and parcels to persons living in DP camps in the American zone in Germany and Austria. Letters, but not parcels, may be sent to the camps in the British zone. UNRRA is distributing message cards to residents of the camps, and persons wishing to send letters or parcels from here must present these cards.)

The community council announced this week that it plans to publish a daily newspaper in Yiddish, which will circulate in the American sector of Berlin, as soon as the U.S. authorities issue a license.