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{
    "localId": "12007666",
    "label": "Letter, General Dwight D. Eisenhower to President Harry S. Truman",
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{
    "id": "12007666",
    "sourceUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/12007666",
    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "Letter, General Dwight D. Eisenhower to President Harry S. Truman",
    "description": "This letter details the actions taken by the military government of the U.S. Zone of Occupation to house, feed, and cloth Jewish displaced persons.  Dwight D. Eisenhower wrote the letter in response to the report of Earl G. Harrison, U.S. Representative on the Inter-Governmental Committee on Refugees. The Harrison Report alleged that Jewish displaced persons were ill-treated in ways comparable to the Nazi regime.",
    "citationUrl": "https://catalog.archives.gov/id/12007666",
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        "Eisenhower, Dwight D: Papers, Pre-Presidential",
        "Principal Files"
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    "naId": 12007666,
    "levelOfDescription": "item",
    "productionDates": [
        {
            "day": 8,
            "logicalDate": "1945-10-08",
            "month": 10,
            "year": 1945
        }
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{
    "seq": 5,
    "pageIndex": 0,
    "type": "document",
    "url": "https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/presidential-libraries/eisenhower/6995916/6995916_039.pdf",
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    "ocrText": "Cop. or General Eisenhower\n8 October 1945\nDear Mr. President:\n10.041\nThis is my full report on matters pertaining to the care and welfare\nof the Jewish victime of Nazi persecution within the United States Zone\nof Germany. It deals with conditions reported by Mr. Earl G. Harrison,\nU. S. Representative on the Inter-Governmental Committee on Refugees,\nwhich was forwarded to no under cover of your letter of 31 August 1945.\nSince Mr. Harrison's visit in July many changes have taken place\nwith respect to the condition of Jewish and other displaced persons.\nExcept for temporarily crowded conditions, the result of shifts between\nestablished centers and an influx of persons into centers as winter\napproaches, housing is on B. reasonable basis. Nevertheless, efforts\nto improve their condition continue unabated. Subordinate commanders\nare under orders to requisition German houses, grounds, and other\nfacilities without hesitation for this purpose.\nThe housing problem must be seen in full perspective. This winter\nthe villages and towns in the U. 8. Zone of Germany will be required\nto house more than twice their normal population. One million and\na half German air raid refugees who were evacuated into Southwestern\nGermany, together with some 600,000 Germans, Volksdeutsche and\nSudetens who fled from Poland, New Poland, Czechoslovakia and Yugo-\nslavia before the advancing Red Armies have created & condition of\ncongestion in the U. S. Zone which forces the most careful conservation\nof housing space. At this moment the U. S. Zone is under orders to\nabsorb 152,000 more Germans from Austria. Added to this influx of\npopulation, there is the loss of housing in bombed-out cities, averaging\nwell over 50 percent; the necessity for billeting large numbers of our\ntroops; and the accommodation required for prisoners of war. The\nresulting housing shortage is not merely acute, but desperate. Not-\nwithstanding this situation, in my recent inspections and those made\nby my staff of Jowish centers, although crowded conditions were found,\n-1-\ncopies to 6-3,6-4,6-5.\n1024\nEisenhower\nLiquid\nin nearly every instance more than the 30 square feet per person of\nfloor space required for our soldiers was available.\nDisplaced persons have absolute preference over Germans for housing,\nbut the requirements of the distribution of supplies, the provision of\nmedical care, and the need for welfare activities make it desirable\nthat displaced persons be sufficiently concentrated so that these\nservices may be performed efficiently by the limited supervisory\npersonnel and transport at our disposal. Thus, considerable use has\nbeen made of large installations such as brick barracks, apartment\nblocks and other public buildings in preference to scattered individual\nbillets.\nSpecial centers have been established for Jewish displaced persons.\nIn the latter part of June, the Armies were directed to collect into\nspecial assembly centers displaced persons who did not wish to or who\ncould not be repatriated. On 25 July 1945, Dr. Rabbi Israel Golstein,\nPresident of the United Jewish Appeal, recommended that non-repatriable\nJews be separated from other stateless people, and placed in exclusively\nJewish centers. As a result, the American Joint Distribution Committee\nwas called upon to supervise the establishment of these centers. This\npolicy was reiterated and expanded on 22 August. Special Jewish\ncenters were established for \"those Jows who are without nationality\nor those not Soviet citizens who do not desire to return to their\ncountry of origin\".\nAt the time of Mr. Harrison's report there were perhaps 1,000 Jews\nstill in their former concentration camps. These were too sick to be\nmoved at that time. No Jewish or other displaced persons have been\nhoused in these places longer than WELS absolutely necessary for\nmedical quarantine and recovery from acute illness. It has always\nbeen our practice, not just our policy, to remove these victims with\nthe utmost speed from concentration camps.\nThe assertion that our military guards are now substituting for SS\ntroops is definitely misleading. One reason for limiting the numbers\npermitted to leave our assembly centers was depredation and banditry\nby displaced persons themselves. Despite all precautions, more than\n2,000 of them died from drinking methylated alcohol and other types\nof poisonous liquor. Many others died by violence or were injured\nwhile circulating outside our assembly centers. Perhaps then we were\nover-zealous in our surveillance. However, my present policy is\nexpressed in B. letter to subordinate commanders wherein I said:\n-2-\nNecessary guarding should be done by displaced persons\nthemselves on the volunteer system and without arms.\nMilitary supervisors may be employed, but will not be\nEisenhower\nused as sentries except in emergency. Everything should\nbe done to encourage displaced persons to understand that\nthey have been freed from tyranny, and that the supervision\nexercised over them is merely that necessary for their own\nprotection and well-being, and to facilitate essential\nmaintenance.\nI feel that we have problems of shelter and surveillance in hand.\nor equal importance is the provision of sufficient and appetising\nfood. In the past, a 2,000-calorie minimum diet was prescribed for\nall displaced persons in approved centers. Our field inspections\nhave shown that in many places this scale was consistently exceeded,\nbut there have also been sporadio instances where it was not met.\nThree or four thousand persons of the persecuted categories, including\nGerman Jows, in the American Zone have returned to their home communities.\nMany are there making a genuine effort to re-establish themselves.\nUntil recently, there has been no clear-out system of assuring adequate\nfood for this group, although in most cases they have been given double\nrations.\n1 have recently raised the daily calorie food value per person for\nordinary displaced persons in approved centers to 2,300, and for\nracial, religious and political persequtoes to a minimum of 2,500.\nFeeding standards have also been prescribed and sufficient Red Cross\nfood parcels and imported Givil Affairs/Military Government foodstuffs\nare on hand to supplement indigenous supplies and meet requisitions\nto maintain these standards. We are now issuing a directive that those\nJows and other persequted persons who choose and are able to return to\ntheir commities will receive a minimum ration of 2,500 calories per\nday, as well as clothing and shoes, the same as those in centers.\nClothing and shoes are available in adequate amounts and of suitable\ntypes. Uniformly excellent medical attention is available to all\nJewish people in our centers where they have generally adequate\nsanitary facilities. UNRRA and AJDC staffs, which are administering\nan increasing number of our centers, are becoming efficient, and are\nmaking it possible for these people to enjoy spiritually uplifting\nreligious programs as well as schooling for children.\nIt is freely admitted that there is need for improvement. The\nschools need more books; leisure-time and welfare activities must be\n-3-\nfurther developed; paid employment outside the centers needs to be\nfostered; additional quantities of furniture, bedding and fuel must\nbe obtained. Tie have made progress in re-uniting families, but postal\ncommunications between displaced persons and their relatives and\nfriends cannot yet be inaugurated; roads and walks must be improved\nin anticipation of continuing wet weather. We are conscious of these\nproblems, we are working on them, and we have expert advice of UNRRA,\nof Jewish Agencies, and of our Chaplains.\nIn certain instances we have fallen below standard, but I should\nlike to point out that a whole army has been faced with the intricate\nproblems of readjusting from combat to mass repatriation, and then to\nthe present static phase with its unique welfare problems. Antici-\npating this phase, I have fostered since before D-Day the development\nof UNRRA 80 that persons of professional competence in that organization\nmight take over greater responsibilities, and release our combat men\nand officers from this most difficult work.\nYou GRN expect our continued activity to meet the needs of persecuted\npeople. Perfection never will be attained, Mr. President, but real and\nhonest efforts are being made to provide suitable living conditions for\nthese persecuted people until they can be permanently resettled in\nother areas.\nMr. Harrison's report gives little regard to the problems faced, the\nreal success attained in saving the lives of thousands of Jewish and\nother concentration camp victims and repatriating those who could and\nwished to be repatriated, and the progress made in two months to bring\nthese unfortunates who remained under our jurisdiction from the depths\nof physical degeneration to B. condition of health and essential confort.\nI have personally been witness to the expressed gratitude of many of\nthese people for these things.\nEisenhower Library\nRespectfully,\nThe Non. Harry S. Truman\nThe President of the United States\nThe White House, Washington, D. 0."
}