The Jewish Central Committee in Linz, representing 22,000 Jewish refugees in the American zone in Austria, has made a strong protest against a recent order issued by the American Army in which the Austrian compulsory work law is interpreted as applying to displaced Jews, it was learned here today.
The Committee said that it is not opposed to the principle of Jewish refugees working in the Austrian economy, but fears that this ruling will set a precedent whereby special privileges for Jewish refugees would not be recognized.
Joint Distribution Committee officials here today expressed the opinion that failure to deal with the situation would lead to recriminative exchanges between the Jewish refugees and the Austrian Government. Furthermore, the J.D. C. office said under the present set-up one result of the order would be that former clerks and business men would be assigned to agricultural Jobs, and vice versa.
Jewish quarters here have also expressed opposition to the order on the grounds that they would be required to do work which would be very similar to that which they did in the Nazi concentration camps.
Jewish circles point out that under the order the Jewish DP’s would be required to work for employers and supervisors who are “potentially anti-Semitic,” since the Austrian people “played a significant role in the destruction visited upon the Jews by Nazism.
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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.
