Suggested Letter to General Dwight D. Eisenhower

SUGGESTED LETTER TO GENERAL EISENHOWER I have received and considered the report of Mr. Earl G. Harrison, our representative on the Intergovernmentel Committee on Refugees, upon his mission to inquire into the condition and needs of displaced persons in Germany who may be stateless or non-repatri- able, particularly Jews. I am sending you a copy of that report. I have also had a long conference wi th him on the same subject matter. While Mr. Harrison makes due allowance for the fact that during the early days of liberation the huge task of mass repatriation required main attention, he reports conditions which now exist in our zone which require prompt remedy. ARCHIVES AND RECORDS c SERVICE These conditions, I know, are wholly inconsistent with the the policies promulgated by SHAEF, now Combined Displaced Persons Executive. But they are the conditions which actually exist in the field. In ther words, the policies are not being carried out by some of your subordinate officers. For example, military government officers have been authorized and even directed to requisition billeting facilities from the German population for the benefit of displaced persons. Yet, from this report, these directives have not been carried out on any wide scale. Apparently it is being taken for granted that all displaced persons, irrespective of their former persecution or the likelihood that their repatriation or resettlement will be delayed, must remain