Action to solve the refugee problem must be radical and preventive, not superficial and palliative, sir John Hope Simpson declared today in a preliminary report of a survey of the refugee question issued under the auspices of the Royal Institute of International Affairs.
Sir John, who gained his knowledge of the refugee problem as vice-president of the Refugee Settlements Commission in Athens from 1926 to 1930, and who later wrote a report for the British Government on immigration and agricultural possibilities of Palestine, states that the immediate need is to prevent european Jewry from becoming any more a refugee movement.
He urges an attempt to eliminate special political factors, particularly organized anti-Semitic propaganda. A constructive program for a long-range transformation of general conditions in Eastern Europe must follow, he states. A basic and real solution is necessarily related to the solution of the great problems of economic and political adjustment, but the refugee problem is too urgent to allow postponement of action until solutions of more fundamental problems are found, Sir John declares.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
