Dr. G. J. van Heuven Goedhart, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, today praised the decision of the Joint Distribution Committee to set aside $650, 000 to help the emigration or resettlement of Jews in displaced persons camps in Germany, Austria and Italy. The Commissioner also lauded the West German Government for offering to spend approximately $720,000 for the same purpose for resettling residents of Foehrenwald, the last Jewish DP camp in Germany.
The UN High Commissioner, noting that he had offered his fullest cooperation to the plan to close the DP centers, said that he had undertaken to place the “difficult cases” among the DP’s–the chronically ill, the tuberculars and the disabled who need institutional or special care. He said the JDC would keep him fully informed of progress in its program.
Dr. van Heuven Goedhart drew attention to his repeated pleas to governments to offer immigration opportunities to those eligible to receive grants from the JDC and the Bonn Government. The funds now available for the closure of the DP camps assure that the refugees’ immediate cares would be met and they would not become a burden on the countries in which they settle, he stressed.
For those refugees who could not be settled in new lands, he noted the importance of integrating themselves within the economy of the countries in which they now dwell. He appealed to them to get out of the camps and make new lives for their families, particularly for the children born and raised in refugee camps.
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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.
