The Ypsilanti daily press., 1946-03-22

1 bndll limit HybelI IN TINS STORY
to first names as have no desire
to become an accessory TO murder.
Irma Is an American girl born In
Cincinnati Of Hungarian parents. A
copy Of her birth certificate is now
in my possession. She found her.
self in Europe during the war and
was seized as a slave. Her mother
writes as follows.
Il please you very much IL II Is
possible for you 10 get the papers
OF my daughter Irma. We are in
trouble and ! am begging you to
to try TO get them hurriedly. II
you haven't time for It please ask
Uncle Carl to do II for me
"Irma is In Russia on work at
present with others And the chill
dren that are from mixed marriages
are sent home and | cant prove II
without her papers. II is very need
OF them now. When she was born
there wac made a mistake they
wrote me as German and X you
could please 10 fix It orderly. Here
they know that | am Hungarian
really. ="
The mother is In error about be-
ing described as a German because
the birth certificate clearly states
that she Is Hungarian. But | do not
see that that matters at all. lrma is
an American by birth. citizen OF
Ohio, entitled to the protection OF
the American government. Her
friends went to the American Red
Cross and were told that they could
do nothing about an American citi-
zen taken into slavery. They took
the matter up with their congress-
man-William z. Hess. He wrote
to the State Department three
times: the first letter was not an
swered; the second received one
OF those well-look-in.o-it things.
To the third. the State Depart
ment replied that 1t had received
report from It's representative in
Jugoelavia that Irma had been TAX
en- to the Ukraine to work there by
the Red Army in November, 1914.
The State Departments represent
atiye In Moscow has been instruct
ed to try 10 ascertain from the Rus
sian government lrma's where
abouts.
As It stands, nobody knows where
Irma Is. An American girl has been
seized by an alien army. theoreti.
cally allied to US, and Is put into
slavery. Her mother seeks her In
desperation. Her friends seek her
almost hopelessiy. Our government
seems to be impotent. We once
fought q war to end slavery but
now we find that an American
and how many more?-has been
made slave. moved from one
place to another like cattle. de-
prived OF the right to communicate
with her family and friends, forbid
den to notify the officials Of her
own government as to her where
abouts, unable to return to her
birthplace. Cincinnati. Ohio.
do not give her family name in
this story because the Red Army
which enslaved her might shoot her
mother for trying to rescue her
daughter from durance vile and
brutal. That Is what Winston
Churchill meant by the iron cur
tain that has come down on the
stage CT eastern Europe. II Is dark
there for those who have TO live as
slaves.
Time was when an American cit.
izen could travel the world know
ing that his government would pro-
tect him. His government. however.
has become SO strong and so great
and so entangled and enmeshed in
all the big things that are universal
that II has no time for its own citi-
zens. An American is thrown into
slavery and nobody gets excited in
the State Department. Maybe they
are getting used to slavery.
Slavery Is the degradation OF
man; It Is the liquidation OF the
dignity OF man. No decent person
can tolerate the enslavement of
any human being. the holding in
bondage Of a single person whether
friend or zoe. Slavery doesn't mere
ly mean involuntary seryitude; It
means that the will OF the enslaved
ceases to be free; that his mind
and character. as we'll as his body.
are the possession OF another; that