THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES Tuesday, October 2, 1945. REFUGEE MILLIONS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25963, 2 October 1945, Page 4

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES Tuesday, October 2, 1945. REFUGEE MILLIONS

The fate of the peoples of liberated Europe during the next few months continues to arouse the gravest concern. The march of homeless millions of Germans expelled from what is now Polish territory furnishes one only of the many problems which must be at least partially solved almost immediately if starvation, death, and chaos are to be averted. Some few weeks ago there was a mass expulsion of Germans from Czechoslovakia, but this was suspended after the United Nations had made representations to the Czech Government. The situation has again been aggravated, this time by the Polish Government, which is apparently more concerned with getting rid of the Germans than with respecting the clauses of the Potsdam agreement which insist that the necessary evacuations should be carried, out under humane conditions. Poland, doubtless, has many troubles of her own, and a reluctance to spend more consideration on the fate of those through whom so much suffering has been caused to her own people is understandable. Her attitude, however, solves this problem only by creating another one more difficult of approach, except in that it shifts the responsibility on to others. It would appear likely that Allied representations will again have to be made to avert the catastrophe which threatens to overtake the displaced peoples. The most distressing aspect of the matter is that most of the refugees are women and children, since the men have been retained for reconstruction work. It is evident that public opinion in Great Britain is alive to the plight of these unfortunates and, although the British people themselves in the hour of victory have had to accept further reductions in their scanty rations, they are being urged to strain every nerve to give what assistance is possible. The responsibility is not Britain’s alone. The responsibility of the United States must be a grave one since in that country efforts are being directed not to the maintenance of a bare war economy, but to the rapid restoration of pre-war standards. President Truman has shown that he fully appreciates the gravity of the issues involved and an earnest of this may have been given in the recent announcement of the release to U.N.R.R.A. of a great quantity of military stores from the United States Army in Italy. Even more significant is the statement that supplies will be available from America to carry the liberated countries of Europe over the most dangerous period until the beginning of the year, but even with this assistance it is reported that the food supplies will still be below the minimum standard for existence, and that distress and starvation in some areas remain a grim possibility. The sudden end of the war in Japan must have released for other disposal vast quantities of stores, food, and the means of transport, and the reasons for delay in the distribution of these are not wholly geographical. In a recent article in the Observer, Sir Arthur Salter said: The physical resources for adequate “ first aid ” to Europe are with few exceptions available. . . . The obstacles are partly financial, but these can be met by the extra allocations now being made to U.N.R.R.A. oy credits from the Export-Import Bank and others. The main difficulty is in the sphere of policy, priorities, and administrative delays. Civilian necessities must now have their merited priority over military convenience.

If this be the situation, a failure on the part of the United Nations to meet the most urgent needs must be a far-reaching tragedy. It is a matter of enlightened self-interest to ensure that such obstacles as these are overcome.