A warning that Germany, today a great concentration camp for the Jews, may make the situation intolerable by some new decree and that a new wave of refugees may thus be expected, was sounded today at the meeting of the autonomous governing body created by the League of Nations to handle the German refugee situation, by Senator Henri Berenger, French member of the body. Senator Berenger’s warning came in the course of declarations regarding the refugee situation by the representatives of the twelve governments so far enrolled in the governing body.
The American government is interested in a humane solution of the refugee question, Professor Joseph P. Chamberlain, American member, told the governing body. He declared that the government will view sympathetically fund-raising efforts through private organizations although the economic depression has created a very difficult internal situation. He pointed out that the work in behalf of the refugees must be based on a reconstruction of their lives, not on charity.
HOSPITALITY OVERTAXED
Senator Berenger, in describing France as “once again the frontier of liberty”, said that his country was assisting refugees both by charity and by placement of numbers in French colonies. French hospitality, however, he declared, is becoming overtaxed and the number of refugees in the country is becoming too great to be supported.
“It is an illusion to think the wave of refugees is ended,” he declared. On the contrary, he warned, German statesmen had told him the problem was only beginning.
“Germany today is a great concentration camp for the Jews,” he declared. “Tomorrow, perhaps, she will issue some Jewish statute giving the Jews inferior or slave rights which will again force larger numbers of Jews to escape from Germany. But France cannot receive more refugees. Other countries must now do their best.”
Alberto Guani, Uruguayan representative who yesterday was elected vice-chairman of the governing body, expressed the hope that Brazil and Argentine, two of the three countries invited to join the body which did not send representatives to the session, would be represented at the next session of the governing body. Latin America views the refugee problem with a willingness to collaborate in its solution, he declared, because it is “passionately attached to the principle of liberty and equality.”
APPROVAL OF WEIZMANN
Withold Chodzko, Polish member of the body, expressed approval of statements by Dr. Chaim Weizmann, noted Zionist leader, before the body earlier in the week, in connection with the necessity for readaptation
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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.
