Years spent in hiding and concentration camps have left the 100,000 displaced Jews in Germany and Austria with a tuberculosis rate that may be eight times higher than the rate normally prevailing in this country, Dr. William Schmidt, overseas supervisor of health and medical services for the Joint Distribution Committee, reported today at a press conference here, on his return from a 13-week inspection tour of the health conditions of Jews in France, Germany, Belgium and Switzerland.
Discussing the hospital facilities now available for caring for tubercular patients, Dr. Schmidt said that while there are approximately 1,000 Jewish displaced persons in German hospitals administered by UNRRA and other agencies, at least another 1,000 are in need of hospitalization, but the shortage of beds has so far prevented their receiving hospital care.
To help alleviate this condition, the JDC has among other measures appropriated $235,000 for the purchase and maintenance of a 200-bed hospital for tubercular Jewish refugees in Switzerland, Dr. Schmidt said. An official Swiss war relief agency has agreed to the admission of 200 Jewish persons, under the agency’s quota from the displaced persons centers, to this hospital.
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.
