Hias-ica Representative to Visit Italy; Will Study Resumption of Refugee Aid

Permission has been granted for a representative of the Hias-Ica Emigration Association to proceed to the liberated part of Italy with a view to studying the possibilities for resuming refugee aid work in the liberated area, it was announced here today by Abraham Herman, president of the Hias. Mr. Herman stated that he was informed by Cordell Hull, secretary of State, that arrangements have been made for Mr. Raphael Spanien, representative of Hias-Ica to visit Italy.

More than 67,000 American relatives and friends of refugees abroad have sought the cooperation of Hias during the last six months in the matter of rescuing their kin and possibly facilitating their immigration to Western Hemisphere havens of refuge, a Hias report states. More than 30,000 Americans have availed themselves of the services of the Society’s Refugee Relatives Registration program which has as its purpose the re-establishment of contact with their kin in countries already liberated or those to be liberated soon.

The report also disclosed extensive activities in the field of Americanization and naturalization. The Society’s Citizenship Bureau aided in the preparation of 3,882 applications for first and second citizenship papers, in obtaining 933 records of arrival, necessary for naturalization proceedings and conducted 23 classes in citizenship. These were attended by 897 immigrants.

The report described the widespread interest of the public in the food and clothing service for refugees abroad. Hias accepts the requests of American relatives and friends to dispatch food and clothing packages for designated individuals in the Soviet Union in accordance with arrangement made with the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee under which the stock piles of the organization in Teheran, Iran, are made available for dispatching clothing and food packages going to the refugees in the U.S.S.R.