The Wilmington morning star., 1946-11-15
Problem OF Refugees
Nv ANNE O'HARE MCCORMICK

moral and mental isolation. But one Wdt NUS
every family hardest is Finding room 1or tne
flood of German refugees pouring across me
border from the east since last January.
Bavaria bears the brunt Of this human dump
ing operation as far as deportatlons. from
Czechoslovakia are concerned, since tWo-
thirds of the migration to the American zone
remains here and all is filtered through on
the way westward.
This influx has increased the Bavarian pop
ulation by more than TWO million since 1893.
This figure includes over a million from
Czechoslovakia and Hungary, ooo'ooo from
Silesia and about half a million displaced
persons. The last group is supposedly tempo
rary, though many of its members oegm 10
DESPAIR of ever being moved. but German
deportees still arriving at a "tapered OH
rate of five to ten thousand weekly are mere
to stay. Characteristic OF all groups Is that
thew are unwilling, unwanted and destitute
exiles.
The Germans are the end-product on one OF
the few clauses Of the Potsoam agreement
that have been carried out. If Bavarlan 1lgures
hold good throughout the country. lhmlgia-
tion amounts to more than a fifth o. the native
population. or the equivalent Of about thirty
million added to the population OF the united
States in less than a year.
The problem is primarily German and Ger
mans are charged with full responsibility 1or
receiving, settling and feeding the horoes o.
unhappy newcomers. It need hardly be pointed
out, however, that they add enormously 70
the burden of military government. More 1ooa
has to be imported because OF these new mil
lions of hungry mouths. They increase the
load on the already inadequate schools, trans
port. health and public services OF all KINDS.
In everv wav they intensity the difficulties
of occupation. If Allied statesmen had mag
ined how heavily this wandering mass OF help
less people would beat upon themselves tney
couldn't have ssumed so casually the moral
and historic responsibility for the most IN
human decision ever made by governments
dedicated to the defense of human rights.
What happens to these people when they
arrive? How are they absorbed into the popu-
lation? It was to answer these questions that
this correspondent made a trip to Augsburg
which is one Of the chief distributing points
for refugees associated to Bavaria. At a big
reception station on the Czech border the
long trains Of box cars are taken over by
Germans and then shipped to other zones or
to scattered centers in the American zone. AT
the height of the movement in summer they
came in At a rate of a hundred thousand
weekly.
At Augsburg the energetic German commits
sioner of refugees, a pre-Nazi trade union
leader, prepared two reception centers, one
an old barracks, the other a bomb-damaged
factory which he managed to repair and
partition into dormitories with American help.
It is a cold and dreary place, but weather
proof and capable of sheltering a thousand
or twelve hundred people. The refugees look
better fed than Germans. They were remark
ably clean, and nurses in charge said that out
Of 70, 900 people 'processed" they found no
vermin and not a single case Of contagious
disease. When we arrived they were lining
up with tin pals to receive their monday
meal, which consisted OF a good portion Of
potatoes with a scrap OF meat on top.
They were eager to talk, crowding around
visitors to relate their experienced. The
forester from the Sudeten foothills was not
typical, because he was able-bodied and COM
paratively young, and most dcportees are old
men, women or children. He left a large
house, he said, and a good farm. He was
the last German to quit his village and OF
200 deserted houses only eight had been &C.
cupied by Czechs. These people represent the
tail end o. the deportations and all told the
same story Of empty villages and INTENDED
farms. Groups Of young women, who worked
in Goblonz, a great glassmaking center, re-
ported likewise that factories we're closed or
slowed down. These girls hoped to find work
in glass factories opened in Bavaria by de-
portees, but where they will 60 depends on
where living space can be found.
This is the deciding factor. The Commits
sioner explained that he tried to keep COM
munities together but refugees had to be
squeezed In wherever there was room.
In one small, damp room We found a family
of six representing four generations. They
weren't Sudetenlanders but Hungarians, they
declared. Their beds were covered with Hun
garian embroideries and the great-grand-
mother, hunting for a few German words, ex-
pressed herselc with fierce Hungarian pride.
we belong in Hungary" she said. 1--WE are
Volksdeutsche, they say, but we don't belong
here. We want to 60 home to Hungary where
our ancestors lived"
Although the farmer burgomaster of Schlip-
sheim said the natives and refugees get on
well together because all the women work
all day in the fields" new settlers are bitterly
homesick. They are subject to the same de-
notification process as the Bavarians and are
said to be more Nazi. They are also more
radical and are expected to increase the
strength Of the Socialists and Communists in
the coming elections.-CThe New York Times).
QUOTATIONS