Condition of Jews in Liberated Italy Described by J.D.C. Representative

The enormity of the task facing relief organizations in liberated Europe is underscored by the achievements of the Joint Distribution Committee in helping to alleviate the widespread distress in Italy, said Max Perlman, a J.D.C. overseas worker, at a press conference today. Mr. Perlman, one of the two American social workers who were the first to enter liberated Italy, left that country a week ago after eight months there and six months in North Africa.

“Today there are 22,000 Jews in liberated Italy,” Mr. Perlman reported. “Of this group, 5,000 are non-Italian refugees. Although in all of Italy there is utter devastation of homes and communities, hunger, nakedness, lack of protection from heat, cold and rain; children who have been separated from parents, and a frightened population, each area presents individual problems.”

Enumerating all the work done by the J.D.C. for the Jews in various sections of Italy, Mr. Perlman stated: “One of the most encouraging things, incidentally, about the entire relief situation in Italy is the amount of cooperation that is extended from all groups. The governmental and intergovernmental agencies now operating in Italy are all doing what they can to alleviate the situation. Despite that, the needs are so great that the work of private agencies such as the J.D.C. is both urgent and essential. The chaplains attached to the American Army, he said, are particularly helpful. “As areas are taken, they have consistently reported back to us in order that we can send funds up for immediate relief.”

Mr. Perlman said that the J.D.C., which operated in Italy under the aegis of the Intergovernmental Committee on Refugees, allocated a total of $390,000 for relief in that country during the current year.