With Nationalist China’s resistance disintegrating day by day, efforts to find a temporary asylum for 8,000 stateless Jewish refugees and 4,500 non-Jewish anti-Soviet Russians was stepped up today.
George Hogue, of the International Refugee Organization, flew to Tokyo to ask Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s permission to send the refugees to Japan or Okinawa if no permanent refuge becomes available before the Chinese Communists reach the Shanghai area. The possibility of a temporary asylum in Borneo, Saipan or Africa is also being studied.
I.R.O. officials here are understood to be afraid that the Jews might he subjected to violence in the interval between the departure of the Nationalist forces and the arrival of the Communists. Transportation difficulties, furthermore, are viewed as likely to become even more difficult after the Communists take over.
I.R.O. ships which will carry 1,772 Jewish DP’s to Israel are not expected to land until Dec. 22. The DP’s gave up their jobs three weeks ago, in expectation of their early departure, and their plight is now desperate.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
