One-third of the entire Jewish population in France will require relief to get through the winter months, Dr. Joseph Schwartz, chairman of the European Executive Council of the Joint Distribution Committee, reported today after completing a survey of the situation here.
Reporting that almost 30,000 adults, in addition to about 10,000 children, have already registered with various Jewish committees for some measure of relief, Dr. Schwartz declared that the number is mounting daily and would reach 50,000, in addition to the children and those registered with public agencies.
The immediate emergency relief program for the winter, he announced, will require a budget of 30,000,000 francs monthly, plus ten to fifteen million francs for children’s aid. This program will maintain families not eligible for public relief and will provide supplementary aid for others. The supplementary aid program is being worked out with government agencies which, Dr. Schwartz said, recognize the fact that a large number of families require assistance over and above what the public agencies can supply.
Dr. Schwartz expressed the hope that the assistance now given by public agencies for needy French-Jewish families will be extended to a large category of Jews who, though not French citizens, have resided in France for a long time. The plight of the Jews, he declared, is aggravated by the acute housing shortage and by the fact that Jews have not been able to recover their possessions. He estimated that there are 25,000 apartments in Paris from which Jews were dispossessed by the Germans.
EMIGRATION OF JEWS FROM FRANCE WILL NOT BE POSSIBLE FOR SOME TIME
Emphasizing that the most urgent part of the J.D.C. relief program is caring for the thousands of Jewish children scattered all over the country. Dr. Schwartz reported that homes are gradually being established for these children, and many will remain with private families but under Jewish auspices. The J.D.C. is now underwriting the budget of agencies concerned with child care. Parents of many of these children were killed or deported, but already parents of others have been located, and eventually families will be reunited when able economically to re-establish their homes.
Dr. Schwartz warned that the economic situation rules out large-scale reconstruction work for the present. He emphasized that lack of transportation due to war conditions prevents emigration of non-French Jews who may wish to join their families in other countries, or may wish to proceed to Palestine.
The J.D.C. is re-opening its loan bank in Paris, Dr. Schwartz revealed, to aid cases where rehabilitation is possible immediately. It is also studying possibilities for vocational training and is considering the possibility of helping the Jewish community to reconstruct such communal institutions as schools and synagogues, many of which have been demolished. It is estimated that the work of restoring Jewish religious institutions in France will require fifty million francs.
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