Only 30% of Poland’s Jewish population has survived “ruthless extermination” by the Nazis, Polish Vice-Premier Jan Kuapinsk told the council of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration today. “And these are dying of hunger and exposure,” he added.
A statement read by Polish Ambassador Jan Cichanowski in behalf of the Polish government-in-exile added that Jews in Poland are allowed a ration of only 400 calories a day. Herbert H. Lehman, who yesterday was elected Director-General of UNRRA, said that his organization would be able to raise European diets to a minimum of 2,000 calories a day. The League of Nations has estimated that symptoms of starvation begin to appear when diets drop below 2,200 calories.
Lehman characterized the problem of returning displaced Europeans to their homelands as one of the hardest confronting the UNRRA. He estimated that 20 million Europeans exclusive of war prisoners, have been forced from their homes. Other estimates have run as high as 40 million. Forms for the registration of refugees, he disclosed, are already in use. They are being distributed by our armed forces in liberated areas.
“This problem cannot be solved over night,” he said. “The return of large numbers of persons from one part of Europe to another, from one part of the earth to another, will require a great amount of effort”. Lehman added that the question of immediate relief to Nazi-occupied Europe would not be taken up by UNRRA. “That is not within the province of the Council,” he declared. “It is a matter of military policy and strategy.”
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