Paris Refugees Live in Utter Destitution, Eyewitness States

The appalling conditions under which German refugees are living in Paris are described in a letter written by Edith M. Pye, member of the Germany Emergency Committee, and published by The New Statesman and Nation here.

The letter follows:

“Sir—Having just returned from Paris, where I had the opportunity of learning something of the conditions under which exiles from Germany are living there, I am glad to hear that a German Refugee Assistance Fund (232 Abbey House, Victoria Street, Westminster, S.W.I) has been formed in this country. I find that many people here have no idea of the problems which are being tackled with so much generosity by the French people, Jewish and otherwise, or of the urgent need for help that exists.

“I visited one of the several barracks (the bastions of the old forts).

STRINGENT HOSPITALITY

“They have been lent by the French government as a shelter for about 150 young men between the ages of 18 and 30, two-thirds of whom are said to be Jews. Though they had a roof over them, and food, they were provided with nothing else except a canvas cover filled with straw, in some cases on an iron framework, and a single thin blanket. They had neither chairs nor tables, no artificial light except one or two small oil lamps, no stoves or heating apparatus, and of course no occupation of any kind.

“There was no distinction made between Jews and non-Jews though the former had cleared a corner and had set up a little synagogue in the midst of that wilderness of misery.

“The men by no means gave an impression of discouragement or destitution. For the most part they were shaved and tidily dressed, and while there were some who were shopkeepers or superior mechanics evidently many of them belonged to the student or professional classes. They made no complaint, but they begged to be allowed to work at bettering their own conditions.

MEN OF CULTURE

“‘If we had wood we could make tables and benches for ourselves; we could put in electric light. We can do everything for ourselves and could live as a community. We are men from a land where there is culture, and we want to live like men and not like animals.’

“The French National Committee, with voluntary funds, has literally been giving daily bread to thousands. It is still giving six francs a day for food to the 700 refugee (more than $450 per day) in the various barracks, but beyond a few new arrivals it has been obliged for lack of funds to cease helping anyone who has been in France more than three months.

“The Entr’Aide Committee, on which are represented many organizations including the French Quakers, to whom it owes its origin, has set up a social and ‘help-each-other’ club for the exiles, and has been struggling to help them by one daily meal which costs a franc. The Social Service Committee is trying to arrange for care of the children, about 300 of whom need financial assistance if they are to be fed; it is also making an appeal for clothing; the representative of the International Committee for Refugee Professional Workers is giving valiant help in placing intellectuals.

HELP MAINTAIN COURAGE

“For all this work money is badly needed. We in England may feel relief that we have not the sorrowful spectacle of these needy thousands before us, but that is a reason why we should send out help to those who have. The decision in Geneva to set up a High Commission will help to solve the ultimate problem, but if courage is to be maintained and moral deterioration prevented while permanent schemes are being worked out, we must help to meet the claims of those who have nothing left but liberty, for their claim is not alone upon generous France but upon humanity itself.

(Signed) “Edith M. Pye.”