The Tragedy of European Jewry
Gressmann, Kurt R.
The Tragedy of European Jewry Five Minimum Measures for Effective Relief By Kurt R. Gressmann IT is an undeniable truth that European Jews, who have contributed so much towards the industrial,...
...The accompanying table compiled by the "Institute of Jewish Affairs" affiliated with the World Jewish Congress and the American Jewish Congress gives an approximate survey of the present problems...
...Jews were not permitted to receive Red Cross parcels, nor were (hey allowed to send out any letters...
...James Macdonald, when reddling as High Commissioner for Refugees, in December 1935, sug- , Bested the stoppage of emigration from Germany ' by political means...
...That meant they were passed, hanged or murdered by the Nazi beasts...
...When we read the horrifying reports of the organised sadism which ruled and destroyed millions ¦ f innocent people, we should not forget the tragic role that missed opportunities have played...
...At this point, it is most fitting to recognize the many acts of daring solidarity to the persecuted Jews committed by the common people of France, Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg, Chechoslovakia, Poland, Austria and Germany...
...Jews and German political refugees who warned against appeasement were charged by various countries with meddling in political affairs which for refugees meant jeopardizing their asylum...
...While these Jaws were in hiding, their jobs and property were taken by others...
...According to the census from 1933-40, there were living in Europe (excluding the USSR) 6,582,000 Jews...
...However, we...
...In this war, German Jews were the first victims of the nnrushing Fascism which certain statesman tried in vain to sppease...
...The Jews were considered by the Hitler Government as "detained civilians" and, therefore, the International Red Cross delegates were not permitted to inspect any camps where Jews, were interned...
...However, this contention proves to be wrong with regard to those Jews who have been repatriated from concentration, labor or other types of camps where they have had to endure for years and years the most extreme hardships...
...The figures as indicated in the following table were considered normally correct for August, 1945...
...The labor movements of the various countries have dona their shars unselfishly trying to rescue Jews and, especially, Jewish children...
...Italy with 75 percent...
...While prison-ers-of-war or civilian internees had some kind of protection on the basis of the Geneva Pi'isoner-of-War Convention of 1029 and the Provisional Tokyo Agreement of l!>.'!4...
...Greece and Yugoslavia each with 20 percent...
...The new Polish Government seems, for unknown reasons, to he reluctant to...
...The first group consists of those Jews who are living in their country of origin...
...That led to friction and violence...
...They are still displaced persons...
...Hungary with 72 percent...
...Jews in Slovakia, after Nazism was defeated, had to flee from their homes to seek shelter in the Bohemian provinces...
...In the Soviet Union, "only" 40 percent of the Jews perished, while in other parts of Europe, the percentage is between 65 and 70 percent...
...Poland has only 200,000 Jews left...
...This tragedy, translated in cold figures, means that (with the exception of the Soviet Union) between 65 and 70 percent of Europe's...
...The French, Belgian and Dutch, now repatriated to their respective homelands, are certainly physically and mentally in greater need than their compatriots...
...The second group is still to be repatriated...
...This group is estimated at 1,100,000 Jews...
...The figure is estimated at 524,000...
...Denmark with 80 percent, and finally Bulgaria with 83 percent...
...Jews have been murdered...
...They are living in greater destitution than the first group...
...In Poland, there is an anti-Semitic campaign under way and it is not hard to understand the reason for the reported anti-Semitic riots which are more serious and organized than in other European countries...
...The Tragedy of European Jewry Five Minimum Measures for Effective Relief By Kurt R. Gressmann IT is an undeniable truth that European Jews, who have contributed so much towards the industrial, scientific and artistic development of their respective countries, have been the moat persecuted minority during the twelve-year war which Hitler waged against them...
...The mass of German, Austrian, Czechoslova-kian and Polish Jews, in brutal disapproval of international law, were declared "detained civilians" and, therefore, subject to the "general.treatment" of the Jews...
...Those Jews who were able to hide in their respective countries did so by sacrificing their positions, their apartments, and living from the small contributions the underground agents could give them...
...The statistics confirm the fact that European Jewry was the most persecuted minority in the war for survival...
...IVE must distinguish beteen two groups of European Jews who have been found alive...
...One of the many tragedies of our time is that we could have won a far less costly victory if we had had the courage an-1 the foresight to understand the refugee problem as a political and not merely as a philanthropic one...
...It was not done...
...should bear in mind that these figures are subject to change as the process of repatriation and, to a very small extent, emigration, continues...
...Estonia and Holland each with 40 percent...
...Included in these calculations of surviving Jew* are, naturally, all the Jews who were able to emigrate before Hitler's henchmen could grab them...
...The Nasi ordeal was survived by, approximately, 2,150,-000 Jews...
...Rumania and Austria each, 51 percent...
...Franee with 70 percent...
...Only very few Jews (American and British citizens) were interned in regular internee camps and, consequently, they were rescued...
...To give some examples: According to the calculations of the "Institute of Jewish Affairs" orily 5 percent of the Jews from Lithuania and Latvia survived...
...Therefore, many p. liticians and governments share a measure of guilt in the "tragedy of Kurot-ean Jewry...
...The Jews, trying to return to their former occupations, were not greeted as liberated victims of Nazism but as unwelcome competitors trying to take positions away from others...
...The Jews who were able to survive are in a state of physical and moral exhaustion, fearing the uncertain future...
...The Catholic Church, especially in Franca and Belgium,.played a commendable Christian role...
...Poland with 18 percent...
...in the USSR, there survived about l.Hou,ooo Jews...
...The disturbing reports of anti-Semitic demonstrations in Poland, France and Belgium, againat attempts to give back to Jews property or homes have economic reasons...
...In 1940, there were living in the Soviet Union, alone, 3,050,000 Jews...
...Then follows Czechoslovakia with 17 percent...
...Concerning the first group, we might say that they are in no better or worse position than the rest of the populations of their respective countries...
...Germany with 52 percent...
...The death rate of Jews Is still high and in some countries the situation is still, deplorable...
...Norway with 45 percent...
...Belgium with 60 percent...
...the Germans had steadfastly refused to grant lo the Jews any international status which would have allowed the International Red Cross to proffer them the same relief as for prisoncrs-of-war...
Vol. 28 • December 1945 • No. 49
