The Freeland League today issued a statement expressing regret over the fact that the Government of Surinam has suspended negotiations for the mass settlement of Jewish refugees in Surinam “pending clarification of the international situation.” The statement said that the League is still in communication with the Surinam authorities in an attempt to secure implementation of an agreement reached last year under the terms of which 30,000 Jews were to “be admitted into the colony of Dutch Guiana.
“An agreement between the Freeland League and the Government of Surinam for the settlement of 30,000 Jews was made and approved by the Legislative Council of Surinam and the Netherlands Government,” the statement declared. “This agreement was announced on November 27, 1947, by the Netherlands Delegation at the General Assembly of the United Nations.
“We regret that the implementation of this agreement is being postponed in a time when the settlement of many thousands of Jewish DP’s in Europe has become a matter of urgency. Our agreement is not dependent on any changes in the international situation, at any given time, outside the interests of the Jewish homeless and Surinam as a whole.
“We are in further communication with the governments of Surinam and Netherlands in order to achieve an ultimate and speedy implementation of the original agreement,” the statement concluded.
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.
