More than 200,000 Jewish displaced persons have passed through Vienna on their way to new homes abroad since the end of World War II, it was revealed here today on the fifth anniversary of the formation of the International Organization for Transient Jews in Vienna.
The group was formed in 1945 when, immediately following the cessation of hostilities, Jews from all parts of Europe streamed through here on their way to Palestine. Most of the Jewish DP’s found refuge in the Rothschild Hospital building or in one of the five other refugee centers located here.
Seventy percent of the 1,400 Jewish DP’s still residing in refugee camps here today are expected to be in Israel by the end of this year. It is generally believed that by 1951, the problem of transient Jewish DP’s in Vienna will be resolved. Rothschild Hospital will probably then revert to being solely a hospital rather than a gigantic refugee shelter.
Bronislaw Teichholtz, president of the International Refugee Organization for Transient Jews in Vienna since its inception, today paid high praise for the aid of the Allied powers in Austria and especially thanked the Joint Distribution Committee, World Jewish Congress, ORT and the Jewish Agency for their “maintaining and shipping the refugees through Austria.” He also thanked the Austrian Government for having given refuge to Jews who fled here from neighboring countries.
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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.