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[[image - traveling displaced persons]]

Voices of Experience

The Kassel Detachment and the DPs
By Captain John E. Emerson,
Detachment E-4

[[text box in right column under title - "Detachment E-4 has a workable plan for handling the displaced person problem in its Co-ordination Board."]]

WHEN Detachment E-4 reached Kassel to take over the Regierungsbezirk, there was 65,000 DPs in the area. As the Russians moved into the area east of Kassel, many more came in. To date, 93,722 DPs have been evacuated from the Regierungsbezirk. There remain 29, 453, of whom 2,556 are considered non-repatriable.
All of this added up to one of the largest DP problems in any comparable administrative area in the U.S. Zone. The Detachment handled its man-sized problem in a comprehensive way by forming a a displaced Person Co-ordinating Board, under the chairmanship of the Deputy Military Government Officer. In spring and summer, emergency measures took precedence over the development of the Board as a permanent planning and co-ordinating agency. Problems had to be handled as they arose, and with the means immediately at hand. Little opportunity was afforded for an all-round appreciation of the situation, but once they initial housing, feeding, and transportation problems were solved, and the winterization of camps (31 of which are still open; sixteen were closed down last month alone) was under way, it became apparent that a closer tie-in of all the various functional specialties, together with UNRRA, was necessary.

Organization of the Board
The detachment Chiefs of Transportation, Food and Agriculture, Civilian Supply, Forestry, Trade and Industry, Public Health, Public Welfare, the Regierungsbezirk UNRRA supervisor compose the body of the Co-ordinating Committee, which is joined in its weekly meetings by a representative of the Kassel Military Government Warehouse. By open discussion, the multifarious problems (such as obtaining winter clothing and shoes, and transport) can be thrashed out and plans can be made for future requirements and action.
The Detachment itself has an officer specifically charged with DP matters. He has a staff of two officers (a camp supervisor and an office executive) and three liaison officers. To deal with the camps, the DP officer either goes through lower-level detachments or else goes directly to the UNRRA Camp Commander or DP Officer of the Detachment responsible for the camp, depending on the urgency of the situation.
The camps have national group leaders who have staffs to assist them in handling and channeling problems to appropriate Allied authorities. Larger camps have indigenous welfare, housing, and entertainment committees, which supervise camp repair work, arrange for their nationals to get work with Army units through Allied repre-