A forbidding picture of the Jewish situation in Germany, Austria and the Saar Basin, with local relief organizations helpless to aid the sufferers, was painted yesterday by Dr. Wilhelm Kleeman, formerly president of the Berlin Jewish Community and the Dresdener Bank, and now head of the ORT Reconstruction Fund of Germany.
Dr. Kleeman, erstwhile colleague of Dr. Hjalmar Schacht, financial dictator under the Nazi regime, arrived in the United States Tuesday after a stay since March, 1933, in Amsterdam. He left Germany after resigning his position with the Dresdener Bank of his own free will, he aserted, and was not in “exile.” In fact, he said, he will return to Germany next Summer.
ASKS AID FOR ORT
As head of the Ort in Germany he came to this country to obtain assistance from American Jewry to further the work of that organization in his native land. The Ort, he claimed, is the only organization capable of aiding the victims of the Hitler regime, since practically all German-Jewish relief organizations have broken down under the strain of attempting to provide for the harassed Jews in Germany.
“Everywhere, in all Jewish communities, there prevails a dismal feeling or insecurity, while disturbances continue to mar the smooth flow of Jewish life,” he declared.
“The Jewish population of the small and moderately sized communities finds itself economically and socially confused and bewildered. Emigration has become almost impossible for Jews. All they can do is to flee from the small towns and rural communities to the larger centers, particularly Berlin, further taxing the charitable institutions which bear the burden of maintenance and care for these refugees.
AUSTRIA PROSPECT DARK
“The Jews in Austria,” he continued, “are faced with a dark and uncertain prospect. Their economic, political and social conditions become worse each day. Similarly, in the Saar Basin, the Jewish horizon is darkened by the shadow of doubt and fear.
“The situation of the German-Jewish refugees has also become unbearable.”
Resources of the large German-Jewish relief organizations have become exhausted, he declared.
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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.
