Jewish officials here today charged that the U.S. military authorities in Munich are refusing to assign to displaced Jews apartments vacated by other Jewish DP’s who have emigrated.
Lt. Col. James Kelly, the top Military Government officer in Munich, admitted in an interview with a Jewish Telegraphic Agency correspondent that the charge was correct, adding that the action was necessary in order to house German refugees still arriving from the eastern section of the country.
Kelly said that the DP camp population is decreasing and since “it is only a matter of a few months until the camps are liquidated and the people migrate, isn’t it simpler for them to remain in the camps instead of moving into town?” He emphasized that the order giving vacated apartments to Germans would not be revised, except for ill persons who required attention at the city hospital.
William Haber, new adviser on Jewish affairs to the U.S. Commander in Germany and Europe, who is expected in Frankfurt tonight, will find himself facing the tough problem of what to do with Jewish infiltrees who arrived in Germany after April 21, 1947, the date stated by Gen. Lucius D. Clay, chief of U.S. occupation forces in Germany, as the deadline after which new arrivals could not be considered displaced persons.
Several thousand such infiltrees–mostly Rumanians–are now living in a precarious state since neither the Army nor the I.R.0. will provide any care for them. They are supported solely by Jewish organizational.
Another problem facing Haber is the Army’s recent disclosure that it wished to close about half of the 11 Hachshara training farms now in operation in the American zone.
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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.
