More than a dozen displaced Jews, residents of the Foehrenwald camp–the only remaining Jewish DP camp in Germany–were slightly injured today in clashes with police when a group of about 150 men from the camp attempted to occupy the headquarters here of the Joint Distribution Committee. Three were arrested.
The Jewish DP’s came from Foehrenwald on chartered buses, but the police, in anticipation of their arrival, had cordoned off the streets leading to JDC headquarters and prevented the demonstrators from entering the JDC offices.
Trouble between some of the Foehrenwald residents and the JDC had been brewing for some time. Last week, in order to avoid complications, the JDC office in Foehrenwald was closed down after some of the residents demanded it, claiming that they were dissatisfied with certain administrative procedures employed by JDC social workers.
One of the chief grievances expressed by spokesmen of the Foehrenwald residents is the alleged lack of vigor by the JDC in pressing for heavy monetary claims sought by the Foehrenwald camp committee from the West German Government and the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany to finance the resettlement of the camp residents in other countries or to integrate them into the German economy.
JDC REPRESENTATIVES READY TO MEET WITH DP DELEGATION
A representative of the JDC said this afternoon that the agency had been told to appoint a committee to meet with JDC officials to discuss their problems. They were told that Moses Beckelman, European director of the JDC, is ready to come to Munich from Paris to attend such a meeting.
“The attack on our office,” a JDC spokesman declared, “reflects the deplorable, exasperated reaction by people whose efforts to leave Germany have been thwarted by circumstances beyond their or our control. The JDC is carrying on a large-scale supplementary program on behalf of the Foehrenwald residents, as well as all Jews in Germany and, in cooperation with international organizations and government and local authorities, is attempting to find a permanent solution to these problems.
“The JDC is constantly ready to meet all representatives of committees for orderly discussion of their problem and is ready to help within the possible limits of its resources and wherever justifiable. The JDC, however, cannot permit the disruption of its work and offices serving all Jews in Germany by a small group of irresponsible persons who disregard their own authorized, recently-elected representatives.”
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