Hedwig W.
Abschrift ungezeichnete Copy eines Briefes anMr.Reginald Kennedy, Direktor, Foreign Relief,Labor League for Human Rights
M
August 26,1946
Dear Mr.K..., I have to apologize for not having answered to your letter ofJuly 12, 1946, at an earlier date.But I first wanted to talk the matter overwith the representatives of Arbeiter- Wohlfahrt.---- The organisation ofCRALOG unfortunately ist such that the organsations to which the foreignrelief supplies are designated can dispose of them at their will.At thepresent time Evangelisches Hilfswerk, organsation of the Protestant Landchurches, receives the largest quantities, Caritasverband, organisation of theCatholic Church , followes next, and Arbeiter Wohlfahrt, or as it is called inWuertemberg- Baden: Wuertembergisch- Badischer Wohlfahrtsbund, runs as a verypoor third.---- Shortly before your letter arrived here a device wase
X developed by which Arbeiter- Wohlfahrt has gained a larger share in thedistribution of the foreign relief supplies than is due to it in accordancewith its receipts from USA. The device is common action of the three organi-sations in child feeding.I had a long talk with Mr Ripp, the zonal secretaryof Arbeiter- Wohlfahrt on your letter, and we decided that Arbeiter- Wohlfaltprofited greatly from the three organisations common action, because it canname the number of children food supplies it needs for these children re-gardless of the amount it has X received from the Initd States.Theallocation comes from the supplies of the Land Committee and the privatewelfare agencies put at the disposal of child feeding out of the suppliesthey have received from US.Mr Ripp decided therefore that Arbeiter- Wohlfahfahrt should in the first place support such common action.Besides hesuggestd to the Land Committee for Wuertemberg- Baden in its last meeting( when Ripp sat there as the representative of the Wuertembergisch- BadischeWohlfahrtsbund) that one meal a day for fourteen days should be granted toa tent camp of young apprentices sponsered by the Mannheim trade unions.The Land Committee consented and the food is given to the union camp. Thusa step forward was made in the direction you suggested.----- Arbeiter-Wohlfahrt may have a similar succes in Greater Hesse, but I am doubtfulwheter it would have succes in Bavaria where political conditions are farless favorable.In the long run Arbeiter- Wohlfahrt can, however, keep
ip its position only, if it gets more foreign relief supplies.So far as ithas received shipments mainly from the Unitarian church Service, and, as Ihave said before, it lags far, far behind the other two organisations.Itsrecognition in the Land Committee and also in the German Central Committeeas a partner of equal rights depends on the long run on the supplies desig-nated to it.I therefore urge you to reconsider your plans and to send Ar-beiter- Wohlfahrt relief supplies.Its position would be greatly improvednot only because it also received a large amount of foreign supplies, butbecause of its contacts with the American unions which would thus be xproved.It would give great encouragement to the unions and the hard- workingorganizers of Arbeiter- Wohlfahrt, if they got a tangible proof of theAmerican union's interest in their work.------ There is another point Iwant to make. Two days ago, Miss Louise Schroeder was here. She is one ofthe Vice- chairman of the Berlin Social Democratic Party which has refusedthe merger with the communists.In Berlin no Arbeiter- Wohlfahrt was allowedby the Russians.As Berlin institutions can only be changed by unanimityin the Commandatura, no Arbeiter- Wohlfahrt can now be organized since theRussians oppose it.So far OMG has not licensed a US Sector Arbeiter- Wohl-fahrt.Miss Schrieder thinks that if some relief supplies were designatedto Arbeiter- Wohlfahrt, US Sector, Berlin , it might be licensed.Woul you thinkthis problem over?---In the US Zone Arbeiter- Wohlfahrt is undertrade union sponsorship. In Berlin this is not possible because the tradeunions there would not sponser it.But even as an independent organisationits character would always be guaranted since its members are all closelyconnected with the Social Democratic Party.