# LCMS Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1953_S729
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS 729

sdy action, the Board of Social Welfare temporarily appointed
ev. Werner Kuntz, Executive Secretary of the Department
jal Welfare of the Michigan District, as full-time director
he project. With the consent of the officials of the Michigan
trict, Pastor Kuntz took office on January 1, 1952. He left for
ope on February 1, 1952, and spent approximately three months
Hamburg working at the task of selecting families to match
assurances given by our people. He was assisted in this work .
y Mr. Alvin Knorr and Mrs. Gertrude Droege of Detroit, who
ed on a voluntary basis.

We are happy to say that one appeal to the congregations of
ynod produced 530 separate assurances. But although the response
was so gratifying, it is noted that these 530 assurances originated
Fin less than 5 per cent of the congregations of Synod.

— . With the assistance of the United States Displaced Persons
‘Commission, Pastor Kuntz established offices at Camp Wentdorf, :
‘near Hamburg, where selections were made, on the basis of records
‘made by the Commission, of predocumented Lutheran refugee
: families. The families were called in for interviews, matched as
t accurately as possible to the requirements of a specific assurance,
fF oriented with respect to a job, housing, church and community
life, and assisted in the processing procedure. Many substitutions
‘had to be made for families who were rejected eventually by
* examining medical authorities. Sponsoring congregations were
B notified of the details of our assignments as soon as families
f received a visa from the consul. Reception and pier service at
E. New York were rendered in our behalf by the staff of the National
; Lutheran Council at a cost of $5.38 per person. This service included
¢ the purchasing of railroad tickets and informing the sponsoring
congregation by wire of the exact time of arrival. We are grateful
© to the National Lutheran Council for this service so excellently
. rendered. We could scarcely have organized such reception
- services of our own in so short a time, though women workers from

our New York churches rendered efficient volunteer services.

Our refugee families, of German Lutheran background, came
from various countries behind the Iron Curtain, chiefly Poland,
Romania, and the former states along the Baltic Sea. They fled
before the onrushing Red armies in the late months before the
Hitler defeat. They abandoned their homes and possessions rather
than face the: enslavement and brutality for which the Soviet
forces are known. Many, especially those of older age, failed to
survive the ordeals of the flight. -Those who did spilled like flood-
waters over the borders of western Germany and sought shelter
in camps or elsewhere. German relief funds were inadequate to
provide for anything save only the barest necessities of life.