U.S. Army Aiding Refugees from Poland, American Jewish Committee Representative Reports

The U.S. Army is well aware of the situation of Jews fleeing Poland and orders have been given to the army border patrol guards to aid actively such refugees, General Mark C. Clark, Commanding General of the United States Forces in Austria recently told representatives of the American Jewish Committee, it was reported at a press conference here today by Lewis Heikrug, special representative of the Committee.

“The aid given under General Clark’s orders to these unfortunate people consisted of transferring them to the nearest assembly center where they were screened medically and provided with food, temporary housing and transportation into the American zone in Bavaria,” said Mr. Neikrug, who has just returned from a tour of displaced persons camps in Germany and Austria.

“General Morgan’s statement that Polish refugee Jews were ‘well fed and well clothed’ is cynical and irresponsible,” Mr. Neikrug asserted. “It was a deliberate, well thought out statement, not ‘casual’ and ‘misinterpreted’ as a recent newspaper dispatch indicated.” A great many of the Jews in centers for displaced persons want to go to Palestine, he said, adding that “the American Jewish Committee will support any action which will facilitate such immigration and will also aid and support any measures that will aid these people to resettle in any country of their choice that will afford them some opportunity for security and freedom from persecution.”