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Morgenthau Asks Truman to Set Up Special Body to Move 100,000 Jews to Palestine

May 23, 1946
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The creation by President Truman of an agency similar to the War Refugee Board, which would be charged with effecting the transfer to Palestine of the 100,000 displaced Jews in the U.S. zones in Germany and Austria, was urged tonight by Henry Morgenthan Jr., former Secretary of the Treasury.

Speaking over radio station WMCA here, Mr. Morgenthau said that there was no place to where the displaced Jews of Europe could go except Palestine. The recommendations of the Anglo-American inquiry committee, he added, provide a blue-print for action, but such action could not be expected from routine government agencies.

Mr. Morgenthau suggested that President Truman appoint either a group selected from the Cabinet, or one man directly responsible to him, who would be entrusted with utilizing all means–even Army transport planes–to move the Jews to Palestine quickly. He stressed that the “situation is grave, and half-hearted measures or routine handling in the lower echelons of a governmental department will no longer suffice.”

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