Reporting to Morris C. Troper, chairman of the Joint Distribution Committee’s European Council, on the eve of his departure for the United States this week to confer with American Jewish leaders, Herbert J. Katzki, J.D.C. representative in Marseille, today described graphically the plight of the Jews in France and stressed the urgency of intensifying emigration possibilities and increasing relief activities.
Katzki, who will soon return to France, outlined relief requirements of internees in detention camps for foreigners and reported on the recent establishment of an interdenominational commission for refugee relief. He said the Vichy authorities were aiding emigration and planning the transfer of prospective emigrants to a special camp at Les Milles near Marseille.
After a recent inspection of the camps, the J.D.C. and the Quakers purchased and distributed several thousand blankets and articles of clothing.
One of the most pathetic conditions described in Katzki’s report is the presence of several hundred Jewish children in the camps with their interned parents. The J.D.C. made a grant to the OSE for care, feeding, medical aid and clothing for these children and is now seeking to arrange schooling and to place social workers in the camps.
The report described the problem of caring for refugees from Germany, from Nazi-occupied countries and from occupied France who are now in unoccupied France, unable to return home, and the Jews expelled from Alsace-Lorraine, who are still receiving some Government aid.
Assistance was given by the French Jewish relief committee for refugees, which is now operating in 15 cities, providing shelter food, medical and financial aid, while special committees, also subventioned by the J.D.C., are aiding special classes of needy. With J.D.C. support, fully 1,200 children are being maintained.
The J.D.C. and the HIAS-ICA Emigration Association are making all possible efforts to promote emigration. Dr. Joseph Schwartz, vice-chairman of the J.D.C. European Council, flew to Marseille on Dec. 25.
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