The situation of the displaced Jews in Austria is bad and rapidly deteriorating, according to reports reaching here this week. As a result, Chaplain Herbert Friedman, assistant to Rabbi Philip Bernstein, adviser on Jewish affairs to the U.S. Army in Germany and Austria, left today for Austria to make a survey of conditions there.
The office of the Military Government’s economic division in the Berlin headquarters is now making a secret survey of the current German tool production in an effort to determine whether tools could be used as payment in work projects for displaced persons, it was learned today. The recommendation was made by Jewish leaders as an alternative to the United States Army’s plan to pay for this work in German marks, which the DP’s consider virtually valueless.
The question of compensation has been a major obstacle in implementing the work program. The relief agencies are now compiling lists of various types of tools, such as sewing machines, shears, shoe-repairing and technical equipment which the DP’s could take with them in emigrating and which would help them in starting life in a new land.
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.
