Move By New Zealand To Help Solve Problem Of Displaced Persons

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXVI, Issue 14714, 5 July 1948, Page 3

Move By New Zealand To Help Solve Problem Of Displaced Persons

qq B y brigadier t. J. KING to rotary 'forum IN tauranga

7p<J l„nd proudly proclaims heisau a ‘New f fr 1 and boasts of a world lead m social 5 United J - done t 0 help solve the problem of s, but wnai m “ blgm whie h stands today as a social ced ioVdier T.’ J. King, of Otumoefcai, during tel” aske «„turday evening to the Sotorua Fellowship dress on ,/ We ] iave done nothing, and thousands ijiTaurang- wil i be condemned to life imbe i* *»»,’’ he added. Mo served in both the First and * ri & a , re"’served for a time with Unrra during the (1 World ’ c hargß of Displaced Persons in the British ar and was* 1 * , that he had been interested in trying jf Gennall %%.huarians and Estonians out to New Zea- ; Latvians, ’ added) a large num ber of agricultural and Tliere Jl d an ioim' these people, and it was well known whole, future was bound up with primary ctioll, .rip bad a love of the land that they in New Searhese pe°P-• ‘ . nd _ u 0 expressed the view that a careouldao- u *■ * ca r e ful medical examination should be these people out to New Zealand.

. arrin? to the efforts oi £ particularly Britain, h Australia, in absorbing ,nd of DisplMcd Persona, kV recalled how anxious in Australia and Ll when Japan came into Australia, he pointed oiu, nionlared Persons out to ■ V Sche was getting ole ho populate Australia ‘ Ipvc for defence. we can hone to hold ° n | w ith one and tlgoolfl V 1 npoole I don’t m Hted when referring to position. Brigadier ssed the hope that everyS do what he could m Cdy of.opinion to help L P to° b a e auestion as_ to the if New Zealand nor doing j n helping to solve the 0 { Displaced Persons, the tied that perhaps all that M was a surge of public ; order to get something He was sure the p rime was sympathetic, bat L„t the Government was Red at the present time Leslie problems in the Lj in this direction cited [raph’O and Mountpark

13m opportunity,” Brigadier King emphasised. Asked what the post-war reaction of the Young German was when he saw all his dreams shattered, Brigadier King expressed the view that it would take a considerable time before the doctrine ingrained in him by Hitler was entirely eradicated. It would, he thought, take a new generation before it could be safely said that the German people were working along Democratic lines.

Brigadier King added that a lot depended on what would happen with the Marshall Plan. The German, when he left the country, was fast getting to the stage of being “fed to the back teeth” with the existing state of affairs.

The Germans could be led for peace as for war in my opinion,” he stated. Unfortunately they had always had the wrong leadership. Lack cf hope was a breeding ground for Communism. Germany had to be put on her feet and the sooner, to bJs mind, the better, concluded Brigadier King.

: w ith his work with rigadier King stated that , ece was 'liberated in 1944, r took on the job of feedlothirig and generally putpeople on their feet again, asked to take on the job. as rather an unusual one dier. He accepted, added cer for two reasons. He it would be good to do t constructive instead ot fe and secondly, because e of New Zealand owed a i Greek people.' leave in New Zealand m jadier King continued, he ■med by the Prime Mina message had been rsim Washington asking him n the job of looking after

Persons in Germany, bins' Displaced Persons, ker’stated that they had (1 about slave labour in ir during the war. At the he war, it was estimated ■e were 10,009,900 of these in Germany, including

in the British zone, ere also other people not I by the Germans—[row the Baltic States Lithuania and Estonia) I fled from the Russians many, and German Jews ed by Hitler. ;t task was to collect these id look after them until ■0 Rpnt hn vv 'e. fT*irr r >. at , was not properly organit did assist the Army, i difficulty was providing tn get Displaced Persons Wlions went, but a large did not go. In spite of iviet opposition, the United md passed a resolution to that no ners-'n who ban a ;rn for not returning tn his if origin was to be cornreturn. .

er King stated that after lution was passed about Displaced Persons left the me leaving approximately According to the latest.

5 hart received there were 000 Displaced Persons in ih zone and about 800,000 by and Austria.

using of Displaced Persons 1 difficulties and in some whole villages were taken the area under his control st group consisted of 14.000 1 Persons housed in eight The Army personnel in took over second-class dation and, in view of 1 had been through, the 1 Persons were provided t-elass accommodation. S an instance where splenters had been made avail • Displaced Persons, the referred to the trouble exby the authorities in mg these peonle to their Humodation. The Displaced had, reached the stage A 7 did not want to shift—better quarters—and they 5 moved at the point of the Riots and even murders ce.

fsic ration for Displaced Rs 1500 calories and the-/ ped from a levy from the tpopulation. The organisaPng Displaced Persons had .doctors and nurses and, he r e good health of these 5 extraordinary. In spite psely together there were jyp' In the German hcsL, trouble was experih M who worn r»i ß . isrsons. They protested that _ not getting their ration, Kwas that the doctors h.al rear or these people. Wo f nan administrative ' vas Placed in all the

r ;h r a t e among the Dis.continued Brigadier nr m nfic ’. Education was rtpn t + n ?, m all stages from mini ? the university and S Of vocational wno 30 P. rov ided. Enter'i^maflS 6 ' 1 by way cf P p ' a a , ln or ie camp hs 1”? hacl bui!t a con v that found in . town, /be half? 3 * R? rsonnel - Ec rent 2 fff a s !? f f comprising m. ltie2 Wol ’king and hp ? 50 i pc:r cen t were IP; f °und that thev red. He cm,n arily well to cl greater d ? C)t ’ he added. natiote ty from these : Ze alanS hties th an from can vvmlf t,f G< ff e tllis Wolk Aether if given