One million dollars has been allocated for refugee assistance and child-care work in Switzerland through the Joint Distribution Committee, it was announced today by Joseph C. Hyman, executive vice-chairman. Of this sum $800,000 has been appropriated for help to refugees from France who have found asylum in Switzerland and $200,000 has been designated as a guarantee for the care of 1,000 prospective child emigres now in France who, it is expected, will be permitted to enter Switzerland this year.
The Joint Distribution committee’s appropriation, which may be increased with the turn of events, will be used to provide food, clothing, medical care and employment training which the Swiss government and the populace, hardpressed by demands for help from other countries of Europe, cannot supply. One third of the $800,000 has already been made available to Swiss aid committees since the beginning of 1943.
“Since the summer of 1942, when the Laval Government began its deportations of Jews to Nazi-held Eastern Europe,” Mr. Hyman declared, “more than 6,000 persons have crossed the Swiss borders, doubling the number of refugees previously there. Many of these evacuees were without funds and without the required legal documents. A large proportion were aged and ill. In the group were over 1,000 children. The Swiss government, which has been very liberal in its attitude toward the refugees, allowed them to enter the country, and the Swiss people, determined to uphold the reputation of their country as a traditional asylum, welcomed them.”
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.
