The immediate issuance of an interim report and the recommendation that the Jewish DP’s be evacuated from camps in Germany and Austria directly to Palestine was urged upon the Anglo-American inquiry committee by Judge Simon H. Rifkind, adviser on Jewish affairs to the U.S. Forces in Europe, he revealed yesterday following his return from Vienna, where he testified before the committee.
He expressed the belief that the large majority of displaced Jews would choose Palestine as their first choice of immigration because “they want to reach a place which they can call home–where they will be welcomed, not tolerated, by the native population, and where they can live full, normal lives.” His trip to Palestine had convinced him, he said, that that country offered the only possible solution for the Jewish DP’s.
Emphasizing the importance of immediate evacuation of the camps, Judge Rifkind, who appeared before the probers on Monday, asserted that “there is no practical alternative except to permit the mass migration to Palestine of all those who desire to go there.” Appealing for consideration of the human aspects of the problem over the political, he added: “This human necessity takes precedence over political questions which confront the committee in Palestine.”
Urging that the governments which will implement the committee’s report must use all possible speed, Rifkind said: “We’ve been taught that time is relative, but for few does it pass more slowly than for those who have spent five years or more in concentration camps and who are now in the chilly atmosphere of the DP centers. I confess apprehension over the price we will have to pay for the delay.”
CAMPS OFFER NO SOLUTION FOR PROBLEMS OF JEWISH DP’S
Judge Rifkind warned that the assembly centers offer no solution to the problems of displaced Jews. In these centers, he declared, “despite conscientious efforts by the Army, almost every index of normal life, as we know it, is missing. This results in a steady, progressive decline in morale, which the most earnest efforts cannot prevent. The only thing standing in the way of complete demoralization of the displaced Jews is the hope that a solution to their difficulties will be found soon. But,” he continued, “Every day’s delay brings these people closer to complete despair and disintegration.”
Pointing out that any attempt to settle the Jewish DP’s in Germany and Austria would cause their complete demoralization, Rifkind stated that they will not return to the Eastern European countries, where they find it impossible to live. He also asserted that an attempt to disperse them throughout Europe was inadvisable, and that the United States, the British dominions, and South and Central American countries could make but modest contributions toward the solution of their problems.
As temporary measures for the Jews in camps, Rifkind suggested that more rehabilitation projects, such as vocational and agricultural training units, be established. He stressed, however, that these measures could only be temporary, and that their success depended upon the Jews’ feeling that they were training for a future in the country to which they wish to migrate.
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