Evening star., 1945-06-10

at slow but heartening pace today as
the United Nations Relief and Rehabili-
tation Administration pours in food,
clothing and, more important, tools with
which to restart factories, farms and
normal living.
There is an admirable vitality about
the way the Yugoslavs have tackled their
overwhelming job. If they err, it is in
the overconfldent conviction that they
can do the giant task without help.
UNRRA carries a $200,o00,000 credit
for Yugoslavia on its books and much
relief supplies and equipment already
have been brought in. Without this pro-
gram the rehabilitation of Yugoslavia
likely would take decades. If it's assets
are used wisely and economically, Yugo-
slavia stands an excellent chance of be-
of Europe to return to normal preWar
economic conditions.
Devastation Widespread.
This UNRRA credit for Yugoslavia
which is larger than the value of nor
NAL years imports, seems huge until one
Destroyed tunnels, blown bridges and
fierce battles left the vital railroad sys-
tenn capped and useless for miles River
craft lie at the bottom of the inland
water highways. Thousands of villages
have been destroyed
War devastation at its worst can be
seen on the Island of Sofia, where the
Germans evacuated the whole popula-
ton after forcing them to rip the roofs
from their huts to provide lumber for
the complicated bunker system. Fish
nets were appropriated for camoufage
and every boat was blown up.
Formerly there were 10000 sheep on
the island. When the Germans left
there were 10. The inhabitants returned
to desert island
1t is a common sight in devastated
areas to see women walking IS to 20
miles to barter for food.
Throughout the country the people
have traded their radios, furniture and
even clothing for food In wide stretches
OF Dalmatia, Bosnia and Croatia, vii
lage after village is completely dead,
the houses destroyed, livestock gone and
no sign of human life.
Industries in Good Shape.
On the other side of the picture: In
dustries in Serbia are in surprisingly
good shape. Most requests have been
for raw and semifnished materials for
repair jobs. The Zenica Steel Mills al
ready are back in limited operation
One of the most vital needs is hospi-
tai and medical supplies At the Uni
versity of Belgrade School of Medicine,
where there has been no graduate since
1941, equipment-down to the last bum
sen burner-was looted by the Germans
and most of the buildings stand only
as wrecked hulks. There is a nation
wide shortage of doctors and nurses.
Although doctors are loath to gener-
alize about war malnutrition, particu-
larly in a country where food standards
of the poor never have been high, they
say that in areas of recent battles there
are many signs of "semistarvation" and
that children are universally understood
The vitality that one sees on every
hand in Yugoslavia is apparent in the
tireless way they are tackling the tre-
mendous problem of the homeless chill
dren. Yugoslav estimates place at $780,
900 the number of children whose "Se-
curity will be imperiled" unless cared
for. For this they visuaized 900 homes
Thousands Already Moved.
Already several thousand children
have been sent to Bulgaria for care in
homes and institutions. UNRRA stands
ready to furnish trained welfare work.
ers and medical volunteers for this job,
but for reasons of their own the Yugo-
slavs turned down the offer
So far they seem to be doing the job
under conditions that would make
social worker surrender in horror.
There are 1,050 children cared for in
the former palace of royalty near Split.
In this hastily organized orphanage
there are no beds, no linen, no china
and no clothing reserve. Meals are
eaten from cutdoWn tin cans. and laun-
dry is done without soap. School work
is carried on virtually without books
The children are thin and sallow but
rapidly are recovering from their soul
soaring experiences.
The government of Marshal Josip
Broz-Tito turned thumbs down on the
use of foreign welfare workers in Yugo-
slavia for three reasons:
/. The Yugoslavs feel that they are
fully capable of handling such relief
work themselves;
2. Normal Slav suspicion of foreign
ers, and
3. Refusal to believe that such work
would be performed without an at
tendant propaganda program of some
sort.
Wants No Outside Help.
Progress also has been slow in the
displaced persons division, headed by
Alfred Faber of Cleveland, Ohio, be-
cause of tagging cooperation from the
government. Here, again, the Yugoslavs
say that they don't need outside help.
On the other hand, good progress is
being made in reabsorbing Yugoslav
refugees who were cared for in UNRRA
camps in the Middle East. At the time
of the liberation there were $4,000
Yugoslav nationals in these camps.
More than 5000 have been returned,
and repatriation of others has been
stepped up.
In addition there are an uncounted
number of Yugoslavs-e estimated at
more than 500000-to be returned in
the gigantic sorting taking place in
Central Europe.
UNRRA's brightest pictures are in its
work of agricultural and industrial re-