The Youth Aliyah brought 45,000 children and youths to Israel since 1934, Moshe Kol, head of the youth immigration department of the Jewish Agency, told a press conference here today.
Reviewing his recent tour of transit camps for Israel-bound immigrants in Europe and North Africa, Mr. Kol reported that the main part of Youth Aliyah’s work in Europe had been successfully accomplished with the transfer of all Jewish children from German, Austrian and Italian displaced persons camps to Israel. The movement’s offices in these countries, he said, have been closed since the first of this month.
Mr. Kol reported that the group’s work in Czechoslovakia and Bulgaria had also been completed while “unsparing efforts” were continuing in Poland to induce the Polish Government to permit the transfer to Israel of Jewish children orphaned during the war.
Mr. Kol asserted that a new chapter was now being written in the history of Youth Aliyah with the bringing to Israel of young Jews from the Middle East. He revealed that 2,000 Turkish, 500 Moroccan, 200 Tunisian and 800 Yemenite Jewish youths were absorbed in Israel during the past year. The next objective of Youth Aliyah, he stated, consists of bringing 1,000 children monthly to the Jewish state from North Africa. However, he said, these youths must first receive medical treatment in transit centers in France, which are being administered in cooperation with the Joint Distribution Committee. He reported that 1,300 youths were now in institutions in France where a new transit camp opened this month accommodating 400 youngsters.
All of these institutions, Mr. Kol explained, are staffed with instructors from Israel. He paid tribute to the Norwegian institution “Europe Hilfe,” which, he stated, was taking care of 200 children prior to their transfer to Youth Aliyah authorities.
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.
