2 In Army camps.

Displaced persons in Germany (United States zone) Dec. 31, 1946, by nationality

Displaced persons in Austria (United States zone) Dec. 31, 1946, by nationality

Total displaced persons repatriated Dec. 31, 1496, by nationalities

Displaced persons remaining in camps, Dec. 31, 1946, by nationalities

Mr. JAVITS. Are you now reading the December 31, 1946, figures! Mr. HILLDRING. That is right.

Mr. JAVITS. Are the figures still constant?

Mr. HILLDRING. Yes, sir, with very minor variations. Mrs. BOLTON. May I ask perhaps one or two background questions, now: What is the condition of the population in these countries? Do the DP's get better food than the people in the countries where they are or in the countries of their origin?

Mr. HILLDRING. The DP's today in Germany are getting slightly better care with respect to feeding and so forth, than the German populations.

The level of feeding for the German population is 1,550 calories of food, and the displaced-persons feeding level is 2,000 calories. The ratio for the persecutees was recently dropped to 2,000. Now all the DP's get the same.

Mrs. BOLTON. How does that compare with the rationing in their home countries?

Mr. HILLDRING. From the figures we have, it is either equal to or less than the feeding in these countries.

I think if you look at 2,000 calories, it is very little food, Mrs. Bolton, and we doubt very much if, in Poland, or in Russia, the people in Lithuania, or the Baltic countries, people are living on less than 2,000 calories, at any rate, the peasants.

Mrs. BOLTON. However, you do not know?

Mr. HILLDRING. We do not know. We can only suppose there. It is only a supposition.

The only thing I can be sure of, with respect to feeding, is that it is higher than the German feeding level, Mrs. Bolton.

Mrs. BOLTON. In the matter of department planning does the Army give over the administration of these areas to Civil Affairs? Or will they do so shortly?

Mr. HILLDRING. Your question is, Will the War Department, with respect to the entire military-government problem, give up administration of all military-government activities in the near future? The Secretary of State announced last week that the State Department would take over direct control of military government, but he did not say when. It has not yet been decided, Mrs. Bolton, as to when it will be.

Mrs. BOLTON. Then what are the actual conditions in the camps at the moment?

Mr. HILLDRING. The conditions as far as physical comfort and feeding is concerned, Mrs. Bolton, we think are at least satisfactory. The people are of normal weight, they are not subjected to any undue hardships, they are about as well housed as could be expected. However, this is a fact: These people have been in these camps or colonies since VE-day, which is 2 years ago.

They had hoped for more than a place to sleep and enough food to keep them alive. They are fine people, all of them. They agree with us that we should not send them home, and they are grateful to us that we haven't arbitrarily and against their wills sent them home. They are grateful to us that we have fed and housed them and that we haven't forced them onto the German population, but they are now troubled in their minds.

They do not wish to spend the rest of their days sitting in a colony or a camp; they long for homes. They want to be settled.

When you consider that some of them were uprooted from their homes as long ago as 1939, that they have had no homes, that they have either been slave laborers for Hitler, or awaiting resettlement in these camps now since 1945, there is understandably great discontent among them.

Mrs. BOLTON. Is that affected by the actual conditions that exist in the population in Austria and Germany, and what is the condition in Austria and Germany today, actual conditions?

Mr. HILLDRING. Do you mean, is the attitude of the DP a reflection of the surroundings?

Mrs. BOLTON. Yes; what is the condition in those countries?

Mr. HILLDRING. Well, the conditions are not too good, in Germany, as you know.

Mrs. BOLTON. Is this a part of the impatience of the country to be rid of outsiders?

Mr. HILLDRING. There is not any doubt of it, Mrs. Bolton.

The impatience of the Austrian with respect to the DP's is great and understandable. They are having great economic problems themselves. For a country that is in a low economic status, the presence of so many outsiders in their midst is unavoidably a cause of discontent among the Austrians.

I think that also influences the attitude of the displaced person who knows that the Austrian and the German both wish him to be out of their midst.

I have heard reliably, not from any displaced person or from any German, that it is the attitude of both the Austrian and the German that their economic plight is to a certain extent attribuable to the presence of these large numbers of displaced persons in their midst.

That is probably one of the factors, Mrs. Bolton, that contributes to the mental uncertainty and distress and discouragement of the displaced persons.

Mrs. BOLTON. I have had quite a good many letters which have complained of the method of screening, particularly for those who belong to some of the Baltic states, saying that the questions in themselves make an impossible situation for them, and leave them in the category of enemies, whereas they really were not.

Can you tell us anything about that?

Mr. HILLDRING. I have had some cases submitted to me with respect to the Baltic countries, complaining about the screening of the Balts. My judgment is, with respect to the United States zone, Mrs. Bolton, and that is the only one I can testify about authoritatively, we have discovered no case of any Balt who has been denied displaced persons care, who hasn't significantly fallen outside of the formula for those deserving it.

Mrs. BOLTON. The complaints I have had were of the ignorance of those doing our screening, ignorance of the historic backgrounds and so on, of these people, the emphasis made by the questions, and the consequent injustice done in a number of instances.

Mr. HILLDRING. I have had some cases submitted to me, Mrs. Bolton, and so has Mr. Petersen in the War Department. Over a period of 2 years you would expect some cases. All of them have been very thoroughly investigated. Not only thoroughly but sympathetically investigated.

It has been my experience that in very, very few cases has there been any question of miscarriage of justice, in the determination of whether or not a DP was entitled to care, and wherever there was any doubt it was usually fixed up in the theater before it got back to the War Department.

Mrs. BOLTON. It was less a matter of the care they were receiving than the category in which they were placed. Instead of being considered as being from friendly nations, they were considered as enemies, they were considered enemies of the United States and therefore had no choice as to whether they should go back into the country of their birth or not.

Mr. HILLDRING. Do you mean that some determination was made that a Balt, because he was a Balt, was so treated?

Mrs. BOLTON. There was a complicated situation that was made very difficult for them.

I wondered if that would come under your attentions at all. Mr. HILLDRING. No; and I would be delighted, Mrs. Bolton, if you would refer any such cases to us, because we have not recognized the Balts as being anything but natives of their original country, and have not forced them to return.

Mrs. BOLTON. I would be very glad to take it up with the gentlemen. Just one more question: Toward what numbers is the State Department leaning in the matter of what they will suggest as the part we shall play in the absorption of these people? How many is it suggested that we absorb?

Mr. HILLDRING. May I answer this in this way, Mrs. Bolton: We have been considering a figure in the State Department which, in the next day or two, we are going to try to get the Secretary of State to clear with the President, so all I would be saying to you this morning would be really the judgment of John Hilldring, and I do not think you are interested in that particularly.