No German Refugee Deported by U.S. As Public Charge Since Hitler’s Accession

No German refugee has been deported from the United States as a public charge since the beginning of the Hitler regime, it was declared at a press conference today by Prof. Joseph P. Chamberlain, chairman of the National Coordinating Committee for Aid to Refugees and Emigrants Coming from Germany. “This is striking testimony,” Dr. Chamberlain said, “as to the ability of the refugees to provide for themselves, as a very small number have needed help from special organizations. No refugee has been allowed to become a public charge.”

Describing the committee’s work in aiding placement of refugees, he reported a growing awareness throughout the country of the exiles’ plight. At first, he said, people did not realize what the issue was and thought that the persecution would last a short time, but now they realize how hard life is being made for Jews and others in Germany.

On the basis of Lasor Department figures, He stated that 11,917 Jewish refugees, including 513 from former Austria, have entered the united states in the fiscal year ending last June 30. The Coordinating Committee does not give funds to bring refugees here, Dr. Chamberlain stated, but it does facilitate the obtaining of loans to establish new enterprises. One of the first refugees to come here patented an ash tray-match combination and nos is running a thriving factory in Ohio with 300 employes, he revealed.

The committee receives some 500 letters a day from relatives here of persons in Germany and from those in the Reich seeking relatives here, Dr. Chamberlain declared. The increasing pressure on Jews in Germany has spurred relatives to file affidavits to help in bringing them here. One of the factors in increasing the number of such affidavits was the German Government’s willingness to release Jews from concentration camps if they would emigrate

“By far the greater number of immigrants from Germany to the United States in the past four years have come to relatives who have furnished affidavits and assumed responsibility for them after their arrival, and carried that responsibility out so that the immigrants have been absorbed into the life of the country through the efforts of their relatives and friends,” he asserted.

The story of the committee’s aid to refugees is largely an account of assisting persons anxious to become self-supporting, to fit into American life. Often this requires retraining. One former secretary to a German minister is now a stenographer. A number of kindergarten teachers have been advised to become governesses, for whom there is a great demand, and a school for governesses set up recently has just trained a group of 15. Others are advised to go into beauty culture and similar occupations.