National Refugee Service Secures Release of Jewish Internees in Texas Camp

A group of Jewish refugees from Axis countries who reached British Honduras and were sent from there to the United States for internment as enemy aliens, have now been released from the internment camp in Seagoville, Texas, through the efforts of the National Refugee Service, it was announced here today. They are now at liberty in nearly Dallas, under the supervision of parole sponsors designated by the NRS, and arrangements for their resettlement is under way, the announcement said.

Another group of fifty refugees still confined in Camp Algiers, an alien detention station near New Orleans, will observe Passover in their camp at services arranged by the National Refugee Service, which is represented in the United Jewish Appeal.

Unable to obtain United States visas because of migration restrictions, these refugees chose the next best alternatives – South America and Central America. When those countries entered the war against Hitler they were brought to this country as “enemy aliens” together with a number of proved Axis sympathizers. Upon arrival in the United States, the women and children were removed directly to the Seagoville camp while the men were sent to other internment centers, For many anxious weeks they had no knowledge of each other’s whereabouts. To aggravate the situation, many of men were housed with avowed Nazis and Fascists and subjected to their insults. The National Refugee Service appealed to the State Department to correct these abuses. As a result, men with wives at Seagoville were sent there to join them and those who remained were given living quarters separate from their Nazi persecutors.