Rabbi Philip Bernstein of Rochester, N.Y., Adviser on Jewish Affairs to the American military command in Germany and Austria, conferred with President Truman today shortly before returning to Frankfurt, and said that the President expressed a strong, continuing, continuing, unflagging interest in solving the problem of displaced Jews.
Declaring that the President wished a first-hand report on the condition of displaced Jews in the United States zones, Rabbi Bernstein said that Mr. Truman indicated concern and determination to implement his position on Palestine.
Of the approximately 225,000 displaced Jews in the U.S., British and French zones and in Italy, Rabbi Bernstein declared, over ninety percent want to go to Palestine, and the President is determined to help in solving the problem of their resettlement. “His message will be of some encouragement to the refugees,” he said, “but they are becoming increasingly discouraged at the failure to carry out promises.”
The original concept of 100,000 displaced Jews to be moved to Palestine is no longer tenable, Rabbi Bernstein pointed out, with a total of 173,000 in the U.S. zones–142,300 in Germany and 31,000 in Austria. “The movement of Jewish displaced persons into the United States, even within the existing quotes, has been unnecessarily slow,” he stated. He urged that the flow be increased quickly.”
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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.
