The Jewish refugee community here is very much concerned over an announcement by the U.S. Consul General that his staff is too small to handle the thousands of applications for visas.
Up to the present no regular quota visas have been granted. A few persons with parents or husbands or wives in the United States have received “preferential” quota visas and some others non-quota visas, but persons desirous of entering the United States, but who do not have first degree relatives there are helpless.
To emphasize their plight and bring it to the attention of the outside world, the Council of Refugee Organizations in Shanghai has printed leaflets in various languages explaining the situation of the refugees here and appealing for assistance and permanent havens. Every letter sent abroad by a member of the refugee community will include a leaflet in the language of the country of destination.
The Council, at an emergency meeting, also voted to send cablegrams appealing for aid to President Truman, Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt and Sir Herbert Emerson, chairman of the Intergovernmental Refugee Committee.
Many of the refugees have criticized the Council for what they charge is its failure to properly publicize their situation. They say that while the attention of the world is focused on the problem of the displaced Jews in Europe, those in Shanghai have been virtually forgotten.
The Council consists of representatives of the Jewish Communal Association, the Association of Refugees from Germany, the Austrian Residents Association, the Zionists, the Agudas Israel, the Protestant and Catholic Associations and other smaller groups.
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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.
