Abschrift . Von der Labor League for Human Rights an die A.W., z.H.WickelEnclosed is a copy of a letter I received from Mr.Melvin Blum which isself- explanatory. gez.Kennedy

Oto: Mr.Reginald Kennedy

Labor League for Human Rights

10 East 40th Street

Dear Mr.Kennedy: From your contacts with the Internationale Rescue& ReliefCommittee you may know that I am their CRALOG representative for the BrtishZone of Germany with a special interest in the Arbeiter- Wohlfahrt.---- The otherday I met Mr.Rudolf Katz in Hannover at the Arbeiter- Wohlfahrt office and wediscussed its problems as well as certain general relief problems in the BritisZone insofar as they affect us.Since I am specializing on welfare problems whileMr Katz 's concerns are broader in scope the suggestion that I should send youa brief report on AW came out of this conversation.--- On the scor of admini-stration, membership of voluntary workers and a healthy enthusiasm for the jobof tackling the critical welfare reqirements of working class people, the AWhad a remarkable revival. In the British Zone it has 9 regional administrativeCommittees, 30 paid workers, and about 30 000 voluntary helpers.Local committeesexist in the smallest communities and in the large towns such as Hamburg adHannover the AW is influential.---- AW committees are very active in providingwelfare sevices, such as nursery schools.advice and assistance to returningprisoners of war, to refugees, to workers in general. They conduct a tracing ser-vice to help the reunion of broken families, act as forwarding agency for par-cels sent from abroad and distribute cash relief.There are other services whichis hardly pays to mention here but it should be suffice to say that there seemsto be no currently permissible function of a workers welfare organisation whichthey are not fulfilling to the extent of the limited means at hand.While itoriginates from the SPD the AW assists all non- Nazi workers without regard toparty affiliation.----- Out side of the general restrictions affecting all German organisations operating under military government the AW is confronted withtwo major problems.The first is the restoration of property and building con-fiscatd by the Nazis. Before 1933 the AW had hundreds of schools, homes for theaged, and workers convalescent and rest homes.Some of these properties have beendestroyed by the war and almost all others, because of their special value asinstitutional type buildings have been requisitioned by the Army and ControlCommission for their reqirements or public needs.Because of the extensive de-struction of housing in the Britisch Zone and the influx of expellees of German ofrigin from Poland as well as the large number of people who leave the RussianZone all existing buildings are overtaxed as regards inhabitants and it is ex-tremely difficult to secure the release of requisitioned XXXXXXXXXEGEMISSIONXXXXXXXXXX property.Notwithstanding the friendly in-interest of several wellplaced people in the Contol Commission less than twentyof these properties have been released to AW in the British Zone.---- This samedifficulty would apply to essential administrative materials, office equippments,motor transport, and the like.With the end of the war and destruction of nazismAW was faced with the necessity of rebuilding while the two major confessionalorganisations, Evangelisches Hilfswerk and Charitas Verband, which had operatedthroughout the Nazu regime continued to be in possessing of most of their assets.This point deserves mentioning because of the sometimes subtle but persistentattempt of the confessional organisations to discourage the regrowth of AW.Onthe other hand AW has some advantage with the Control Commission because thesolidarity of certain labor MP's in Britain has seeped through in the form ofa mild pressure on their behalf.My own job is to defend their interests and toexploit this pressure in the fullest to AW's adventage.I cannot over- emphasizehow important it is that our friends in Britain should know that theit prssureeffective and should not be relaxed.---- The small proportion of relief

goods consigned to AW out of total CRALOG shipments is naturallydamaging to their prestige and morale. This can only be rectified by the AmericanLabor movement itself.On the problem of distribution of undesignated good wethink we have found a solution by having them allocated to the areas of greatest