Evening star., 1940-01-10

Claims Sponiords Also Are
ForcibIy Returned to
Home Country
TO the Editor Of The Star:
The Washington Star Of January 3
reports the French Ambassador to the
United States as denying that any ma
terials used by the Spanish refugees in
France have been requisitioned by the
French government and that any
Spanish refugees have been forcibly re-
turned to Spain.
That many supplies which before the
war had been available to the Spanish
refugees were taken over by the French
authorities is asserted over and over
again by Spanish refugees arriving here
from France. For example, Mrs. Regina
Comas, the former delegate of the min
istry of education, in charge of children's
colonies in Valencia and, after the
exodus, associated with the Office Inter-
national Pour L Enhance, said in re-
port to this organization: 1.-The beds and
blankets which were being supplied by
the French Government are now taken
for use in the war. Now they sleep on
straw
That clothing, blankets and shoes
collected for the Spanish refugees have
ernment is attested by an official letter
of protest against this requisition, ad-
dressed to Gen. Herring military gov
ernor of Paris, and signed by Prof.
Victor Basch and Prof. Paul Langevin.
We have in this Office detailed informa-
ton on this requisitioning which, since
the materials have not been returned,
amounts to seizure.
Concerning the forcible return of
refugees to Spain. may quote from
report made to the Sv. Hjalpkommiten
for Spanien, Stockholm. Of which Sena-
tor Branting Is the chairman, by Mr..
Carl Jonsson, who had been sent to
1iulltC W IilSCoIi5dCC CilC clbudtlOll 1Nl .
Jonsson says: The demands that the
Spanish refugees be sent back to Spain
are being intensified and the result is
that in the province of Basses-Pyrenees,
for example, almost all women, children
and old people, supported by the French
state or by French communes. have been
sent back to Spain. From several other
provinces, too, refugees have been sent
to Spain by coercive means"
This testimony is corroborated by
almost innumerable word of mouth re-
ports we have had.
On the general condition of the refu-
gees, may quote Mr.. Howard E. Kersh-
ner, an American Quaker, who is the
vice president and director of the Inter-
national Commission for the Assistance
of Spanish Child Refugees. In an
official report dated December IA. Mr.
Kershner says: TT is distressing to re-
port that women and children in large
numbers are being sent from the North
and East of France to Angeles Camp
where they are obliged to live under
most difficult conditions You
must envisage refugees living on the sand
or in fields, in very crude shelters or
abandoned factories, where the struggle
Is to get enough food, clothing and
warmth to make life possible. Since
the war with its attendant evacuation
of two million French people. the mar
gins of food and care available for Span
ish refugees have greatly decreased and
the problem is vastly more complicated
than it was"
On the basis of the reports cited and
of many others too numerous to men,
ton, We feel that we are entirely justi-
fed in asserting, first, that clothing,
bedding and housing which, before the
war, had been made available to the
Spanish refugees and had helped to
make the life of at least some Of them
bearable has now been taken from them.
(Mr. Kershner's reference to the fact
that women and children have been
taken from colonies in the north and
east of France and sent to Angeles Camp
is tremendously significant since Angeles
Camp is, as know from personal obser-
vation, the most notorious of all the
camps where living conditions are
beyond all belief. And. second. that
many refugees have in one way or an
other been returned to Spain against
their will.
This organization certainly has no
desire to engage in criticism OF the
French government. We have, how
ever, a responsibility to the 100000
Spanish refugees in France and. in the
name of the terrible suffering they have
endured, the facts should be made
known. HERMAN F. REISSIG,
Executive Secretary. Spanish Refugee
Relief Campaign.
January S.