White House Mum on Report Urging German Reparations to Resettle Jews in Palestine

President Truman has no knowledge of a report allegedly submitted by Edwin W. Pauley, his personal envoy on reparations, recommending that German reparations be used for re-settling Jews in Palestine, White House press secretary Charles G. Ross said today.

Ross declared that the President had not seen the report, the text of which the newspaper PM published this morning. According to the newspaper, Pauley, who carried the rank of ambassador on his European mission, also urged that the U.S. Army begin moving displaced Jews from camps in Germany to Mediterranean ports “closer at least to their permanent homes” and that a United Nations conference be called to provide for the resettlement of 500,000 to 1,000,000 Jews.

The State Department also denied any knowledge of the report, referring all questioners to Pauley’s office at the White House. A spokesman there said that in Pauley’s absence in California, he could make no comment. However, sources close to Pauley said that the report has been at the White House for five weeks and expressed doubts that, in view of his direct dealings with the President, it has not yet reached Mr. Truman.

The report suggests that at least a share of the financial assistance needed by the 100,000 Jews whom President Truman asked to be admitted immediately to Palestine, be taken from Germany. It states that these supplies could be part of a reparations payment to the Jews or a part of the United States reparations, or that they could be paid in lieu of restitution of Jewish property confiscated by the Nazis, or as exports for which payment could be made in currency.

In reference to beginning the movement of Jewish DP’s toward their eventual homes, the report urges that initially a transport of 5,000 Jews be moved in protected caravans to Mediterranean ports, perhaps in Italy, to await shipment to permanent homes. Pointing out that this would be but a small step, it emphasizes that “if it served to revive the broken spirits of some who have stopped dreaming, it would be worthwhile.”

Finally, the report states that the doors of all the nations of the world must be opened to the 500,000 to 1,000,000 Jews who “may wish or be impelled to emigrate from Europe.” It suggests that at the United Nations conference to be called for the specific purpose of meeting the problem of European Jewry, every nation be asked to accept a certain number. The United States, Pauley is reported to have stated, can and must do its share toward providing the Jews with homes where they can live in “peace and dignity.”