The majority of the 265 displaced Jews who have been living in this Bavarian town, near the Czech frontier, for some time, are planning to leave for DP camps, following an attack on several of them by American troops, a correspondent of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency was told upon his arrival here to investigate the details of the incident.
The correspondent found that the attack on the Jews, during which one Jew, Joseph Mosler, was shot, was chiefly a result of the local commander’s complete mishandling of what could have been minor incidents between displaced Jews and soldiers. The commander, Major George Taylor of Missouri, who has only been in Cham two-and-a-half months, admitted that it might have been advisable to enlist the help of the DP leaders in an attempt to ease the tension between the Jews and the U.S. troops.
The wounded Jew, as well as the other Jews arrested by the military authorities as a result of the clash, were freed with the exception of one who was sentenced last Wednesday to eight months imprisonment for allegedly striking an American sergeant. The fight started near a soldier’s beer-hall where the American soldiers fraternize with German girl, who incite them against the Jews.
Fred King, a Briton who is the local Unrra director, told the correspondent that the displaced Jews felt uneasy because of the alleged hostility of the troops. He added that he would meet with Major Taylor and suggest to him that he address the displaced Jews and assure them of his cooperation and sympathy. A similar suggestion made earlier to Major Taylor by visiting correspondents was met with the reply that he considered the incident a “minor one and closed.”
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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.
