Dr. Nansen Appeals to League to Aid Russian Refugees

Jewish Telegraphic Agency Mail Service

An appeal on behalf of the Russian refugees is made by Dr. Fridtjof Nansen in an article contributed to the "Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung" here in connection with the conference to consider refugee problems which is to be held this month in Geneva.

"Have the feelings of humanity become blunted?" Dr. Nansen asked. "Have we become hardened by the glut of misery and suffering in the last few years? Something of that kind must have happened, for in earlier times it was not necessary to do so much in order to rouse the desire to help in mankind. A fire in a town, an earthquake, a few people left without a roof over their heads, and everybody was there eager to help. And now cries help go up from thousands and tens of thousands of refugees, innocently suffering and dying and those who were once so ready to help hear them but act as if they had not heard, for it is certain that they find it more convenient so.

In Poland, where a large number of refugees had been concentrated, the order went forth one fine day that all those who had crossed the frontier from Russia without permission and could not show that they were political refugees must leave Polish territory. Practically all these refugees were Russian Jews, numbering thousands. To go back to Russia was impossible without running the risk of being shot. To go over the borders into another country was also impossible, so they were driven across the frontier to Danzig. They could not be kept in such a small community, so they were tossed backwards and forwards like tennis balls between the different frontiers, until at last through the mediation of the League of Nations the Jewish central organization in Paris (Ica) declared itself ready to assume responsibility for their maintenance until some solution was found. So thousands of these Jewish refugees were for a long time kept in a concentration camp near Danzig, until finally the possibility was opened up for them to go to America."

"Dr. Nansen stated that he estimates the number of Russian refugees scattered over Europe at a million. Many hundreds of thousands, he said, are permanently unemployed, and it is undeniable that they are a source of anxiety and disfavor to the countries in which they are now staying.

"The possibility has now been brought up of sending many of them to South America, where there is still room for many millions. In order to consider this and other schemes closely related to it, the representatives of all Governments interested in the problem have been invited through the League of Nations to Geneva for February, and it was hoped that at this conference decisions of practical value would at last be made which would ease the bitter lot of these innumerable innocent people," the writer declared.