Memorandum from Russ Bauer to Joseph Short

DISPLACED PERSONS COMMISSION WASHINGTON 25, D. C. IN REPLY, REFER TO: April 4, 1952 DPC- 336 MEMORANDUM TRUNTH and ARCHIVES *NATIONAL AND TO: Mr. Joseph Short RECORDS Press Secretary The White House FROM: Russ Bauer, Director RB Information & Editorial Division SUBJECT: Details of the Ceremony to Welcome the Last Displaced Person to the United States The last DP (the 339,000th to be visaed under our program) is: JOSEF ZYLKA, 42, a Pólish national. Accompanied by his wife, Ursula, and his two daughters, Ursula, 6, and Beate, 3, Zylka sailed for the United States, Tuesday, April 2. He will arrive New York Harbor, Saturday, April 12. He will be received BY THE PRESIDENT on Monday, April 14. Following the reception, Zylka will embark for Chicago, where he has a job waiting for him as a factory worker. Zylka was born in Cieszyn, Poland, and attended the Technical Trade School of Frysztad, Czechoslovakia. He served in the Polish Army during the early part of World War II. Taken prisoner by the Russian Army in September, 1939, he was released three months later on an exchange agreement between the two armie S and returned to Poland. This reprieve, however, was short-lived. In early 1940, he was deported to Germany as a forced laborer by the German Army. During the next five years, he was a slave laborer. When the Allies crossed the Rhine, he went into hiding until the occupation of Frankfurt. Requesting assistance from the U. S. Army, Josef was put to work as a truck me chanic with military units in Frankfurt and Berlin. In Berlin, he was quartered in a DP camp, later married Ursula, and made plans to immigrate to the U. S.