The plight of refugees and Satre backs Israel
Refugee ship incident
Scenes during the transfer of Jewish refugees from the schooner Four Freedoms, which was towed by a British destroyer into Haifa harbour to the deportation ship Empire Heywood: Slowly, a weary stream of half-dressed, sullen, and exhausted people were shepherded to the deportation ship. Many were lifted bodily over the rail and down the steps. Others fell or stumbled as they tried to make their way across. Those who had fainted or were taken ill lay on stretchers on deck. One man, who had drunk sea water on the journey, was raving mad and was being held down by two other immigrants…One man broke through the cordon of soldiers and shouted: “My father, mother, and sister were killed in Europe. I have been in a concentration camp for seven years. Now I have come to my homeland, and you are taking me away. I would rather die.” He was only just prevented from throwing himself into the sea. Others in the landing-craft started a chorus: “Heil Hitler, Heil Bevin and Auschwitz.”
French author favours Jewish state
A considerable stir has been caused in literary circles in Paris by the announcement that M. Jean Paul Sartre, the distinguished French novelist and dramatist, and founder of the new “Existentialist “philosophy, has signed a manifesto — addressed to all leaders of French public opinion—in favour of a Jewish National State in Palestine, and urging all enlightened French men and women to give their support to the immediate establishment of an “independent Jewish Palestine.” M. Sartre, who is a non-Jew, signed the manifesto after a meeting with representatives of the extremist “Hebrew Committee of Nation Liberation.”
Appeal for Belsen
I am making an appeal to your readers on behalf of the Jews in Belsen Camp, Germany, where my husband is the Unrra Director.. For the 12,000 Jews in Belsen Camp, God’s forgotten children, there will be few or no New Year greetings. They cannot understand why they are still in Belsen, and why they cannot be transported to a land where they can live like free and decent people. …I appeal to your readers to send anything which might help to make the New Year a little more cheerful for the Belsenites: a few candles, a bottle or two of kasher wine, anything in fact which can be spared.