Army Pledges Immediate End of Jewish Discrimination in All Liberated Areas

That the complete elimination of Nazi discriminatory legislation and regulations in countries liberated by the United Nations is a basic policy of the United States Government, was indicated by Major General J. A. Ulio, Adjutant General of the United States Army, in a letter to Dr. John Slawson, executive vice president of the American Jewish Committee, made public today.

This official statement of the United States policy for the Jews in countries liberated from Axis domination was made by General Ulio in answer to a suggestion of the American Jewish Committee that specific instructions by American occupational forces on equality of food rationing be given to local authorities in all liberated areas.

General Ulio, speaking for the officers in Allied Military Government (AMG), said: “Our policy toward Germany is based upon the fundamental principle that Nazi and all other evil influences and discriminatory practices shall be completely eliminated. In furtherance of this policy, your letter is being brought to the attention of the authorities charged with the responsibility of planning for the administration of civil affairs in territories to be occupied by our forces.”

The letter from the American Jewish Committee, pointing out that “Jews in Axis-occupied Europe are compelled to subsist on about one-half of normal food allotments,” specifically requested that “complete equality of rationing will be immediately instituted” for those who previously suffered from discrimination because the Nazis had issued special ration cards stamped “Jew.”

Dr. Slawson said that similar letters had been sent by the American Jewish Committee to the governments of Yugoslavia, Poland, Norway, Luxemborg, Greece, Czechoslovakia and the French Committee of National Liberation. He indicated that the Norwegian Government through Francis Irgens, Counselor of the Norwegian Embassy in Washington, had written that “as soon as part or the whole of Norway has been liberated, rationing will be taken over by the regular Norwegian authorities and any discriminatory persisting rules will just be disregarded.”