1,200 Jewish Children of Deported Mothers Will Be Evacuated from Paris by JDC

Approximately 1,200 Jewish children will be evacuated from occupied France and will be placed in child-care homes in unoccupied France, it was announced today by Joseph C. Hyman, executive vice-chairman of the Joint Distribution Committee.

A grant of $25,000, made by the Joint Distribution Committee to the OSE, Jewish child care and medical aid agency in France, will provide for these children for the balance of the year, Mr. Hyman stated. “The recent deportation to eastern Poland and occupied Russia of 12,000 Jews from Paris and other parts of occupied France has aroused terror in the hearts of the entire Jewish population,” he said. “Thousands of Jewish mothers in Paris, given the choice of keeping their children with them or leaving them behind, preferred to part from their infants rather than take them along to unknown destinations. It is these children, orphaned for at least the duration of the war, who will be brought to homes of safety in southern France where they can receive adequate care.”

Analyzing the events of recent weeks in France, Mr. Hyman declared that many large problems confront the Joint Distribution Committee as a result of the deportations. “Not only must our relief assistance in France be intensified and measures taken to allay the panic among the 60,000 refugees who are in the unoccupied zone, but we are being called upon to augment the sums which we have been sending for refugee help in Switzerland and Spain. Many hundreds of desperate people have fled across the borders of France, especially into Switzerland, during recent weeks. They need assistance of every kind and it is the Joint Distribution Committee which is looked to for the financial help necessary.”