The Jewish Migration Organisation Hicem (Hias-Ica-Emigdirekt) has taken the initiative in calling a Conference which will be held in Luxemburg on March 23rd. and 24th., in which delegates of the most important Jewish organisations in France, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Holland, Luxemburg, the Saare district, Austria and Czecho-Slovakia will take part to consider bringing about co-operation between the different organisations in Western and Central Europe engaged in the work of assisting Jewish migrants.
The economic crisis which is affecting the whole world has brought about increasingly severe restrictions against immigration in all countries, overseas as well as in the countries of Western and Central Europe, the Hicem headquarters office states in anrouncing the convocation of the Conference. The unemployment which is caused by this crisis affects especially the Jewish immigrant population, and as a result there is a considerable growth of movement among the Jewish migrants, especially in Western Europe.
Whether they are seeking a more habitable country where they will be able to earn their living, or whether they are deciding to return to their native countries, these people, the statement says, find themselves compelled to under take long and arduous journeys without the necessary resources for making these journeys, and the charitable organisations in the places where they live are not always able to ensure them the fare for their journey to the place of their destination, and so they are generally sent on from one community to another by various organisations engaged in migrant protection work.
There is grave inconvenience in this procedure, the Ricem explains. On the one hand it compels these unfortunate people to wait for weeks frequently on their journey from Eastern Europe, when the whole journey could be made in about two or three days, and on the other hand, it causes considerable expense to the Jewish Communities of the towns through which they have to pass. The Conference which is now being called by the Ricem is intended to co-ordinate the efforts of the various institutions concerned, and to rationalise the use of their funds for the purpose of assisting the migrants.
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