It was only at the end of the war. when the victorious allies were sweeping through Europe. that these horror stories were found to be true. Weak justification can probably be found for allied inactionall considerations were unfortunately forced to be subordinate to the demands of achieving military victory over Hitler. Now. in 1979. the world is being confronted with a similar modern horror story. the "boat people." However. in 1979. unlike the World War II years. there is no "great crusade" which permits us the luxury of diverting our attention from the plight of the tragic "boat people." The nightmare of the "boat people" presented in statistical terms is frighteningevery month 60.000 Indochinese refugees. many of them ethnic Chinese living in Vietnam. flee their homeland. At present. there are 330.000 refugees languishing in often subhuman conditions all over Southeast Asia. These are the survivors--those who survived starvation. drowning. dehydration. shark attacks. rape and murder by pirates. It has been estimated that as many as 250.000 may have perished by those means.
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refugees