Evening star., 1945-10-26
Still MisIeudino

The letter from Earl G. Harrison,
appearing in another column on
this page, accuses The Star of "glar-
ing error" in its editorial conclusion
that: "The UNRRA, judging from
the Harrison report, is incompetent
to lend much help" in the care of
German concentration camp VIC
TINS. Mr.. Harrison quotes a sem
tence from his report to deny the
inference. The Stars comment,
however, was based on the following
paragraph of the same report:
UNRRA, being neither sufficiently or
ganized or equipped nor authorized to
operate displaced-person camps or CEN
ters on any large scale, has not been in
position to make any substantial con-
tribution to the situation. Regrettably,
there has been disinclination on the
part OF many camp commandants to
utilize UNRRA personnel even to the
extent available, though it must be ad-
mitted in many situations this resulted
from unfortunate experiences Army Of
fcers had with UNRRA personnel who
responsibility involved Then, too, in
the American and British zones, it too
frequently occurred that UNRRA per-
sonnel did not include English-speaking
members and this hampered proper
working relationships.
II this language does not denote
incompetence by UNRRA to be of
help at the time, Mr.. Harrison has
committed rather glaring error
in his own choice of words.
More surprising, however, is Mr..
Harrison's continued effort to de-
fend his offensive statement that
"As matters now stand, we appear
to be treating the Jews as the Nazis
treated them except that we do not
exterminate them. They are in con-
centration camps in large numbers
(the report estimates elsewhere that
the number of Jews in that part of
Germany not under Russian occu-
patton was perhaps 100000 under
military guard instead of SIS troops.
One is led to wonder whether the
German people, seeing this, are not
supposing that we are following or
at least condoning Nazi policy"
The Star editorial said that the
implications of that statement "are
wholly unwarranted and grotesque-
ly misleading" There is nothing in
Mr.. Harrison's letter or in the con-
text OF his report to alter that i'm
preston. And while debate of the
matter seems unnecessary, it is ap-
propriate to quote few sentences
from General Eisenhower's COM
ment on the Harrison report which
more than justify The Stars criti-
ciSm:
At the time of Mr.. Harrisons report
there were perhaps 1000 Jews still in
their former concentration camps.
These were too sick to be moved at that
time. No Jewish or other displaced
persons have been housed in those
places longer than was absolutely neces-
sary for medical quarantines. The as
sertion that our military guards are now
substituting for SIS troops is definitely
misleading. One reason for limiting
the numbers permitted to leave our as
sembly centers was depreciation and
banditry by displaced persons them
selves. Despite all precautions, more
than 1000 of them died from drinking
methylated alcohol and other types of
poisonous liquors Many others died
by violence or were injured while cir
circulating outside our assembly CEN
terS. .
There are other statements in
General Eisenhower report, and in
the report to General Eisenhower by
Harvey D. Gibson, former Red Cross
commissioner, which tend to dis
credit additional unbalanced gem
civilizations unfortunately advanced
by Mr.. Harrison in lieu of facts.