OCTOBER 5. 1945
THE CANADIAN JEWISH REVIEW
The Central Location Index Weaves Hope From The Tangled Threads Of Despair
iljr names, and old home addresses learn more easily what freedom iah government, among those of
By Suzwvn F. CoAew
The Central Location "index of* are no normal mail communica- their remaining. Meyer Levi
the Canadian Jewish Congress was set up to aid Canadian Jews in locating family members in Eur-
tions between Canada and Europe, and lost mail cannot even be traced. And it is almost more en-
were .known; or that several thousand refugees were found in Dachau* in Auschwitz, in Oswie-cim, in Buchenwald, or in Bergen-Belsen.
Maybe they will catalogue a group of children, whose parents were deported, and who themselves are just old enough to know who they are, and there are many who
writing in an article in The Nation, which was reprinted in tpe Canadian Jewish Review, pointed
ope, and to assist European Jews gulfing to know that there is no out instances of rising anti-Semi-
in finding their relatives in Can- civilian mail to British and Amer- tism in parts of Europe which Qn lists, their names read like a ada, as part of the effort to re- ican-held Germany, or to German makes these people shrink from citizens' roll-call in their country
going back, to former homes.
really means.
From inquiries received through the Location Index lists of names and addresses have been drafted, distributed, and published in the press and over the radio of countries around the world. Local radio stations in Canada have broadcast requests for finding Canadians who are being sought by someone in
settle the homeless Jews of Europe.
Congress agencies; the Joint Distribution Committee and the United Jewish Refugee and War Relief Agencies, connected in Can-
displaced persons camps.
The Allied Military Government has been finding itself confronted with thousands of displaced persons in camps who do not want to
The Contra! Location Index, in New York, in trying to simplify ways of helping them, compiles
are not old enough to know even Europe. In Sweden, the World that Their problem is terrifying. Jewish Congress took time on the
shortwave broadcasts of the International Service of the Swedish radio, listing daily the names and
of origin. The French girls have such names as Suzanne and Mon-ique, and there are the Polish, Austrian and German children
other countries, receiving help in their appeal from Dr. J. Schwartz-bart, a Jewish member of the London Polish cabinet.
Material help has been going out to the displaced persons. Supplies are building up their strength, but almost the most important thing for them to know is that they are not forgotten. Each cable which can be transmitted to Europe from Canada is encouraging and optimistic that it may find its destination. "We are well and all our love", it may say trust-
personal details of people who fully, discounting the slim chance were found, and giving details of of someone receiving it.
next-of-kin they were looking for.
lists of displaced persons found whose names would not be strange In Poland, the former Lublin gov-
go home, and who cannot go any- through Europe, which are pajued to their countrymen. Emphasis for eminent broadcast similar lists by
The Index is planned to change despair to hope. Sifting through names, finding people, helping, in
ada with the Congress; the Na- where else. They cannot emigrate, on to the Index here. These^may help has been placed on the chil- arrangement with Dr. Emil Som- its wayL to rebuild homes, and re-
tional Council of Jewish Women;
dren, because they are the ones
merstein, chairman of the Jewish Committee of Poland. These were
lieving hearts and minds, it is an antidote to horror in a world that
and if they do return, there will say merely, perhaps, that * few
the Jewish Immigrant Aid Society; be psychological, and perhaps even Greek Jewesses were found in a who must grow up in freedom, and the World Jewish Congress; the physical, discouragement against camp; that their names, ages, fam- the ones who would be able to responded to by the London Pol- is struggling to rise again.
OSE, a world Jewish assistance or-__________________._______________,__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Sanitation; and the Red Cross, all offer services for handling location inquiries. The Central Location Index pools their efforts, and eliminates duplicate searching. This, in turn, is linked" with the Central Location Index of the Joint Distribution Committee in New York, and the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee in Moscow, which recently established an Information Bureau there in cooperation with the Russian Red Cross. The Russian Committee registers the names of people in Russia, both Russian citizens and those who are, refugees there, with relatives outside of Russia.
Saul Hayes, executive director of the Congress, is chairman; and M, A. Solkin^, executive director of the Jewish Immigrant Aid Society in Montreal, is executive secretary. Working with them are Dr. M. Saalheimer, and Dr. S. Levine, Rabbi, who attend to this among other Congress .duties. Assisting them are Congress workers, G. Pomerantx, in Toronto, and H. Frank, in Winnipeg.
Dr. Saalheimer, who studied law and economics in Germany, worked with Jewish communities in Sax-
moeh like
Jewish life in Poland. His brother, Dr. M. Levine, is head of the Mer-kas Hatorah Seminary, in Montreal Another brother, Rabbi Isaac Levine, is overseas, helping to attend to the religious life of Jews in camps.
To link displaced persons together, and to find the threads of the living, who were almost lost, that is the job of the Index. Woven into it is ceaseless searching in answer to frantic appeals for assistance from people whose lives have been torn and shattered.
The story of the Index is a record of terse, bare, revealing reports and cables. One cable from � Europe said merely, "Mr. and Mrs. is deaf; and others may carry the marvellous, heartening news of people who are alive. One Belgian-Jewish family is the only family in Dijon, France, which has not lost someone, and there are other?, too, who relieve the story of tragedy and terror with their own well being, but most of them do not know where or how �he rest of their families are.
Before Europe's Jews can be placed and secure again, one of the major problems is the re-unite-ing of families. This is an obstacle which is depressing and overwhelming in its seeming hope-. }es*ne�. Almost every Jew in Europe has been displaced to some extent. In being disrupted, these people have lost family addresses or have been unable to remember them. Added to all this are the difficulties in finding the relatives who are remembered. Their fain-
may recall only that they live in Canada. They may not know that a name has been Canadian-bed, or that a trade has been changed, and so what could be does to discovery are lost. To make this tangle worse, there
H U B E RI PLOMER
MA
Or*r Expert Antique
Re^orattong HA. Mil 12M Btekop 8t
DEFENCE OF
THE Combined Jewish Appeal is the maintenance fund .of the personal security and individual peace
of mind of every Jewish citizen. It is of vital and personal importance to every Jewish man, woman and child.
Every dollar subscribed to the Combined Jewish Appeal is enlisted in the cause of peace�peace for
the giver�peace for the recipient.
The Combined Jewish Appeal is planned peace. It promotes welfare by preventing distress and poverty;
it foresees and budgets against misfortune.
This year the Combined Jewish Appeal takes on even greater significance. It is faced with the greatest
task of all time. More thousands than ever be/ore are in want through conditions not of their own making.
Where eke shall they look for help if not to those who are able to help?
Make this year's contribution to the Combined Appeal a generous one�more generous than ever before.
Make your donation your prayer of thanks for Victory and for Peace.
Give readily! Give generously! Give gladly!
,\FIAIR or
O
ne
COMBINED JEWISH APPEAL
AND
WAR VICTIMS9 EMERGENCY BELIEF
October 2nd to 10th
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