Germans in Camps Were Friendlier to Jews Than They Are Now, Jewish Leader Says

The Germans he encountered during his ten-year stay in various Nazi concentration camps were friendlier to Jews than any he has come across since, Dr. Phillip Auerbach, chairman of the Jewish communities in the Rhineland and Westphalia, said last night, addressing a mass meeting here under the auspices of the British Central Fund for Jewish Relief.

At Birkenau and Buchenwald, he said, German political prisoners had provided Jews with all the food and assistance possible, and had even helped some to escape. The Germans with whom he comes in contact now, Dr. Auerbach said, have indicated no desire to aid Jews.

Joseph Rosenzaft, chairman of the Jewish Committee at the Bergen-Belsen displaced persons camp in the British zone, told the meeting that the surviving Jews in Germany are well aware of the difficulties involved in reaching Palestine, but are nevertheless determined to get there.

“We are firmly resolved,” he continued, “never to return to the old places, we want to go to Palestine–we know the difficulties, but it is the only place for us.” He paid tribute to the aid given by Palestinian Jewry to European Jews, and stressed the role played by the Jewish Brigade in offering both moral and material support to the displaced Jews.