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Exodus Refugees Protest Camp Conditions to High British Authorities in Germany

November 21, 1947
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The continued failure of local British officials at this camp housing some 2,300 Exodus refugees to heed Jewish requests for more adequate accommodations today forced the camp committee to appeal to higher British authorities. The committee has already been notified that the authorities will meet with it within the next few days.

As a result of the British failure to supply an ambulance to take patients to the nearest hospital 20 miles from the camp, two women were forced to give birth in the wretchedly-equipped camp infirmary. When this condition was again pointed out to the Britons, they said that they were “sick of hearing Jewish complaints.”

Sarcastic and flippant replies to requests from the members of the camp committee are normal procedure among the local officials. Answering a complaint over the delay in bringing the food ration to even the low level of 1,500 calories daily promised by the British, one official countered with the question: “Do you think food grows on trees?”

Reports from the Wilhelmshaven camp where the remainder of the 4,400 Exodus refugees are living state that conditions there have also worsened since the fuel supply ran out this week and no action was taken to replenish the coal stocks.

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