The Roofless House

Over Lac Leman the sun set in splendor. Mont Blanc's icy peak changed from red to grey to blue, finally faded into the falling night. The moon rose. From an old-fashioned paddle steamer, 400 UNRRA employes (who had taken time out from their Geneva conference for a boat ride) watched the grandiose spectacle in awed fascination.

But their boss, defiantly puffing cigar smoke at the stars, was unmoved by beauty. Sick of his job as UNRRA head, Fiorello H. LaGuardia sent up a tenor shout that carried over the quiet water: "I'd like to cause a fight so that they'd throw me out right now! "*

"Do Not Do It." The Little Flower almost did it. When he recommended to the UNRRA Council, meeting in Geneva's League of Nations Palace, that UNRRA cease operations in Europe by Oct. 1 for lack of cash, he stirred up a whirlwind of protest. Seven small nations, backed by Russia, pleaded that UNRRA aid be continued. Said Poland's Hilary Mine: "Those who suggest liquidation remind me of architects who, after great effort, build a house but stop short of a roof."

In UNRRA's roofless house were still ten hungry countries--and nearly one million D.P.s of 55 nations. The D.P.s were UNRRA's most urgent item of unfinished business. Less than 10% would be repatriated by 1947. About 97,000 were Jews, most of whom did not want to go back to the lands from which terror had driven them; many non-Jews were equally reluctant to go home, either because they feared political persecution, or simply because many knew that they would eat better inside D.P. camps than outside. The incredible fact was that virtually no plans had been made to care for any of them after UNRRA's demise.

LaGuardia was not to blame for UNRRA's end; that had been scheduled months ago. Nor was he responsible for the lack of planning by other agencies. Last week, in fact, he made a moving plea on behalf of those who live in the "roofless house":

"Just imagine those D.P.s month after month and year after year, sitting there with their own problems. It is demoralizing. I want action on this matter. Please, I beg of you, whatever we may do, let us not leave these people abandoned until [another agency] comes in. Do not do it. . . ."

Another Winter. The only agency which had the clear duty to "come in" was U.N.'s International Refugee Organization, but it could not begin to function until the General Assembly, scheduled to meet in September, formally organizes it and participating governments vote funds. Under the best of conditions, it could not take over the D.P.s until late next winter.

A few individual nations hesitantly promised help to bridge the tragic gap. Brazil announced that she would admit 100,000 (preferably skilled industrial workers) in a year. However, Brazil was ready to receive only 1,000 families by Oct. 1. Other Latin American countries were "exploring the possibility" of taking in refugees. In the U. S., richest of all the D.P.s' dreamlands, no serious effort to revise the narrow quota immigration system was being made.

Each year Europe's forgotten million looked toward each approaching winter with the conviction that it would be the worst yet for them. They have usually been right. They might be right again this year.

*In Prague last week, he was welcomed at the airport with a stein of beer. Within the hour he announced that grain shipments to Czechoslovakia ought to be cut. Cried he: "I don't think they'll need any more grain when the Director General is met at the airport with a glass of beer. Whoever planned that made a great mistake." Czech officials were stunned. "There isn't much beer," said one. "Moreover, it is regarded as part of the diet here rather than a drink."

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