Speech #830179060

Anneliese Else Hermine Neumann. a German girl. who. according to the language of the official report rendered by the Department of State. stole two bags of coal while she was employed in a railway coalyard in Berlin. Germany. during the month of January 1947. In 1951 Miss Neumann married Sergeant Ware. and applied for an immigrant visa to the United States. Under A3750 section 212 (a) (9) of the McCarranWalter Act. she was refused a visa because she had committed a "crime involving moral turpitude." Sergeant Ware pleaded in behalf of his wife. stressing the fact that in 1947 her father was still a British prisoner of war. and her mother was incapacitated because of wounds she suffered in both legs during the bombing of Berlin. There were at that time six younger children in the Neumann family. and the only reason Anneliese stole the coal was to keep the family warm. There was no relief possible under the law. and Sergeant Ware had. therefore. to resort to the relief of a private bill.