International Refugee Organization Press Release No. 139

United States Office INTERNATIONAL REFUGEE ORGANIZATION Room 819, 1346 Connecticut Avenue N.W. Washington, D.C. MIchigan 8000 Herb McGushin, Ext. 7. IRO PRESS RELEASE No. 139. Ruth Safran, Ext.17. TRUMAN ANANA ARCHIVES AND LIBRARY FOR RELEASE A.M. PAPERS SUNDAY, OCTOBER 23, 1949 U.S. Washington, D. C., October 22-The 100,000th refugee selected under the U.S. Displaced Persons Act will arrive at New York City, Thursday (October 27), aboard the IRO-chartered Army Transport General Howze, the International Refugee Organization announced today. Honor of being the 100,000th has fallen to Ferdinand Kiisk, 50, an Estonian farmer with a family of four including his wife, Elfriede, and three sons, Ulo, 16; Toivo, 13; and Mati, 7. Sponsored jointly by the Lutheran World Federation and Mr. Fred Prielipp, the family will proceed to the latter's farm on Rural Route No. 1, Harrison, Michigan, to start life anew after ten years of uncertainty and flight. Commissioner Harry N. Rosenfield of the U.S. Displaced Persons Commission, charged with implementing the Displaced Persons Act of 1948 which authorizes the admittance of 205,000 refugees, will preside at a reception ceremony celebrating the event. Mayor William O'Dwyer will convey the official greetings of the City of New York. Other speakers will include representatives of the International Refugee Organization, the New York State Commission on Displaced Persons, and the Lutheran World Federation. Also on hand to welcome the Kiisks and the other 1,349 refugees aboard the Howze will be representatives of the Michigan State Commission on Displaced Persons, the New York City Commission on Displaced Persons, and the following voluntary agencies: American Federation of International Institutes, American National Committee for Aid to Homeless Armenians, National Catholic Wel- fare Conference, Church World Service, United Ukrainian American Relief Committee, American Committee for the Resettlement of Polish DPs, American Hungarian Federa- tion, United Service for New Americans, Unitarian Service Committee, Interna- tional Rescue Committee and Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society. Interviewed at Bremerhaven as he and his family embarked on the Howze on October 18, Ferdinand Kiisk said "I am happy that I happened to be the 100,000th DP, but the most important thing of all is that we are going, after ten years of uncertainty and flight, to a new and free land." All of the Kiisk family expressed a deep sense of grati- tude to their benefactors which was summarized by the father's statement "we must work very hard to repay these great kindnesses." Ferdinand Kiisk owned his own 120-acre farm in Estonia before the war. Like his father before him, Kiisk made a good living from the soil and from his livestock. Under the Russo-German pact Kiisk lost his farm to the Russians in 1939, and went to work in a nearby mill. In 1941, he managed to return to his farm but had to turn over practically all his produce to Nazi occupation authorities. /more