840.48 Refugees/12–2244
Memorandum by the Adviser on Refugees and Displaced Persons (Warren) to the Secretary of State
The War Refugee Board is prepared to liquidate its activities immediately provided it can be assured that its policies in rescuing and bringing relief to refugees and persecuted minorities will be continued by the Department of State and that proper organization therefor under the general supervision of an Assistant Secretary acceptable to the Board is announced by the Secretary. An interim report on the intention of the Department to assume the responsibilities of the Board and to organize effectively to carry them out was sent to the Board on December 13, 1944.
Involved in the fulfillment of this undertaking is the appointment of a suitable successor to Myron C. Taylor as a member of the Intergovernmental Committee, the reorganization of the existing relations between the Department and the American Vice Director of the Intergovernmental Committee, Patrick M. Malin, and immediate determination of the American financial contribution to the 1945 budget of the Intergovernmental Committee which will involve securing substantial funds from Congress. The American representative to be appointed to the Intergovernmental Committee should go to London as soon as possible to work out the 1945 program of the Intergovernmental Committee and return by February at the latest to support the request for funds in Congress.
Otherwise the change over to the Department involves the carrying on of the mutually satisfactory relations which have existed between the War Refugee Board and the private refugee agencies during the period in which their activities are circumscribed by censorship and other war controls. This will involve the reception of all appeals for official actions of various kinds from Jewish and other agencies which are deeply concerned about the situation of refugees in Europe and politically adept in pressing their claims for action. To accomplish the foregoing an expansion of the staff of the office of Adviser on Refugees and Displaced Persons and its organization as a division under an Assistant Secretary acceptable to the Board is called for.
The War Refugee Board is now awaiting word on the Assistant Secretary under which supervision of the foregoing program will fall. The Board also expects word on the willingness of the Department to assume its overall responsibilities on the operation of the camp of a thousand refugees brought from Italy, at Oswego, New York, which is operated by the War Relocation Authority, and on the intentions of the Department to continue the Board’s efforts to give food package relief to the refugees still held within occupied Europe. 300,000 such packages are already en route to Europe for [Page 1188] immediate distribution. Dispatch of another 300,000 packages at a cost of $1,000,000 has already been approved by the blockade authorities but is awaiting the allocation of funds by Presidential action.
The Board will [does?] not feel that the assurance requested above has been given by the organization of the office of Adviser on Refugees and Displaced Persons outlined in Departmental Order 1301 of December 20, 1944.62
- Department of State Bulletin, December 17, 1944, Supplement, p. 778.↩