Oversimplification
From Mr Raymond P. Kalman
Sir: Mr W.F. Deedes, a former chairman of the parliamentary select committee on race relations and immigration, is sadly mistaken if he believes that 'the last century saw • . five million Russian-Jewish migrants' in this country (The real trouble with Enoch', 18 August). The true figure is reliably estimated at some 180,000 and probably did not exceed 200,000 between 1836 and 1914.
His comment, 'We acted on the slogan of the hour. "Get them out now!" ', referring to the refugees from Nazi oppression from 1933 to 1939, is both misleading and oversimplified. It also depreciates the efforts of those who fought the dead hand of bureaucracy and prejudice.
The 'we' was not the nation but a disparate number of humanitarians from Bishop Bell of Chichester to Sir Simon Marks and his colleagues.
Raymond P. Kalman
London NW4
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