Speech #800180738

The quotation I am about to read. Mr. President. appears on page 4 of a book entitled "Refugees in America." by Maurice R. Davie. I call attention to the fact that the refugee. or displaced person. or stateless person problem is not anything new. It existed prior to the Second World War. That was very impressive to me. We had forgotten. as we went along. that there were many who were called "stateless persons." many called "refugees." The phrase "displaced persons" had not then been used. I now read from this book by Mr. Davie: As late as 1939. 20 years after the conclusion of World War I. Judge Hansson. retiring president of the Nansen Office for Refugees. which was at that time combined with the office of the High Commissioner for Refugees of the League of. Nations. stated that over 600.000 refugees were still under the care of his office. That was in 1939. just prior to the beginning of the Second World War. From September 1. 1939. which was the date on which Hitler invaded Poland. until the end of World War II. the ranks of these 600.000 refugees which were then under the custody of the League of Nations were swelled by tens of millions of persons in the worldwide upheavals of the war. In central Europe alone. at the conclusion of hostilities. some 8.000.000 displaced persons became the wards of the armies of occupation. Of this number. some 7.000.000 have been repatriated. and that leaves the million of which I speak.