British military authorities here have agreed to countermand their order preventing the reception of Jewish refugees from Poland in a transient camp at Hesslingen, on the frontier between the Russian and British zones, following a conference with American officers. The refugees have been streaming through here to the British camp, en route to more permanent quarters in displaced persons camps in the U.S. zone.
The conference followed the refusal by the British, on Friday, to admit 120 Polish Jews to the Hesslingen camp. The refugees, who arrived from Berlin in UNRRA trucks, were ordered by the British military authorities to return.
During the last six weeks more than 6,000 Jews escaped from Poland into the Russian zone and reached Berlin. They constitute a grave problem for the Berlin Jewish community which cannot secure sufficient food and lodgings for them. UNRRA has therefore been sending some of these Jewish refugees from Berlin to the transit camp at Hesslingen with the hope that they would later reach either the American or the British acces.
As the number of Jews reaching Berlin from Poland is increasing daily, with more than 200 arrving every day. UNRRA is now attempting to send about 2,500 of them to the American zone on a special refugee train. However, the British military authorities have announced that they will not permit transit of the train through the British zone unless U.S. Military Headquarters at Frankfurt will give definite assurances that the refugees will be accepted in the American zone.
By hindering Jewish refugees from Poland from entering the British zone, the British military authorities are following a policy of preventing displaced Jews from becoming potential emigrants to Palestine. The Jews arriving in Berlin from Poland predict that there will soon be very few Jews left in that country, since the terrorism against Jews shows no sign of abating, and especially since local authorities there, they report, are not taking the necessary measures to combat the anti-Semitic violence.
The Joint Distribution Committee in Berlin has made arrangements to secure food from the Scandinavian countries for the Jewish refugees there. The Norwegian authorities have provided the J.D.C. with trucks which bring food to Berlin from Sweden and Denmark.
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