Charging the U.S. Army with neglecting the 8,000 displaced Jews in the Landsberg camp, in Upper Bavaria, to a point where “disastrous epidemics may strike at any hour,” Dr. Lee Srole, well-known American sociologist, today resigned his post as an UNRRA official in protest against the treatment of Jewish refugees.
“I protest against the refusal of the U.S. Army Command to adequately face the problems of the thousands of refugees fleeing for their lives from progroms in Poland to the safe haven of displaced persons centers in the American zone of Germany,” Dr. Srole stated. He said that Jews in the Landsberg camp are crowded into wooden shacks condemned as unfit for German prisoners of war. They are not provided with clothing despite the cold, and from 12 to 15 persons are herded into rooms the size of the average entrance hall in an American home.
Lt. Gerneral Walter B. Smith, Chief of Staff of the U. S. Army in Germany, announced that he would personally investigate conditions at the Landsberg camp, since he considers the charges by Dr. Srole to be a “very serious indictment.”
Reporting the stories that define our era. When history unfolds in real-time, the Jewish world turns to JTA. Your support ensures we can document the complexities of war and the resilience of Jewish communities with integrity.
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.