SIR,—As my colleague, Miss Lettice Jowitt, is reviewing our work
for Spanish refugees in the South of France, may I reply to the misappre- hensions of your correspondent, Krystyna Barcz? She asserts that Lettice Jowitt, in her letter appealing for clothes for Europe, "means in this letter only Germany "; but this is not so, nor should the letter bear this interpretation. It is true that Aachen and Vienna were particularly mentioned, but so were "reports from . . . the other stricken countries of Central Europe." In order to suggest that Friends Relief Service is interested only in Germans, Krystyna Barcz even cites in quotation marks words that were not in Lettice Jowitt's letter. No knowledgeable person would deny that the Germans have perpetrated frightful atrocities upon an appalling scale, but we cannot agree that "all their nation is guilty" or that "all their nation took an active part in those cruelties." Th.-. children did not. Many, indeed, have been born since the end of the war. The question is whether these children are to grow up capable of the horrible cruelty of the Nazis. The Religious Society of Friends believes that a policy of revenge and hatred will make this possible, and that we must follow Him who bade us love our enemies and pray for them that despitefully use us, though we say this with humility to those who have suffered much more than we.
If your correspondent understood the temper of the British people, she would know that sympathy for tortured Poland goes without saying. She asks, "Why is the 'Friends ' Relief Service not organising a help for Polish children?" The answer is that we are now feeding more than 15,000 children in Kozienice and near Olsztyn, in the latter case includ- ing, of course, many who have been resettled from the Eastern territories. Another team of the Anglo-American Quaker Relief Mission in Poland is hauling building materials near Pulawy. We have recently undertaken a programme for distributing supplies to children's homes in Krakow, and 20 tons of food per month are sent as a gift to feed students at various universities through their own organisation, Bratnia Pomoc.
Out of a total of £134,176 worth of food that we had. shipped to Europe by the end of 1946, £31,115 worth went to Poland, in addition to 1,288 bales of donated clothing and footwear weighing 72 tons. In view of the fact that our work in Poland started less than a year ago, the supplies sent there have been proportionately greater than to any other country, as is well justified by the tragic needs. This Service has sent clothing and footwear to eight European countries. Every garment and every pair of shoes will continue to be warmly welcomed at Friends Relief Service, 163 Highgate Road, London, N.W. 5, and money at Friends Relief Service, Friends House, Euston Road, N.W. I.—Yours
Friends Relief Service.
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