One Jew was killed and five wounded today when German police swooped down on a DP camp on the outskirts of this city in a hunt for black market products and counterfeit ration stamps.
The raid, which had the endorsement of the U.S. military authorities, developed into a pitched battle between about 1,800 Jews and 220 police, when the Jews attempted to drive the police from the camp. The DP’s charged the police with confiscating cigarettes and candy which they had obtained legitimately from Red Cross packages distributed by UNRRA.
David Clearfield, UNRAA director, said tonight that the camp residents were unarmed and defenseless. “The first shot was fired by German police,” he said, “when the Jews in mob fashion tried to push them out of the camp, shouting that they had no right to be there.” The dead man, who was shot from a distance of no more than ten feet, was Samuel Danziger, 37, a former concentration camp inmate.
Several American soldiers participated in the fray, having rushed to the assistance of the Jews, whom they thought were being attacked. They withdrew when they were informed that the raid had official approval. The arrival of American armored cars brought the outbreak to an end.
(A report from Munich today said that a Jewish refugee and an American soldier at the Seidlung camp near there were stabbed after the refugees reportedly attacked a Polish guard at the camp. The DP’s charged that several shots had been fired into their quarters, and claimed the Pole was responsible. U.S. military police arrested three German girls, a Polish WAC, a Polish MP and four refugees).
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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.
