COUNCIL OF STATE GOVERNMENTS. The States and Their Older Citizens: A Report to the Governors' Conference. Pp. xvii, 176. Chicago, Ill.: Council of State Governments, 1955. $3.00

• Author: Dorothy C. Tompkins
• DOI: 10.1177/000271625630400146
• Published date: 01 March 1956
• Date: 01 March 1956
• Subject Matter: Articles

168

H.

B.

M.

MURPHY

(Ed.).

Flight

and

Re-

settlement.

Pp.

231.

Paris:

UNESCO,

1955,

(Distributed

by

Columbia

Univer-

sity

Press,

New

York).

$2.50.

There

exists

an

abundant

literature

on

the

refugee

problem

of

different

countries.

approaching

it

from

various

angles.

On

the

other

hand,

general

works

not

limited

to

a

single

country

treat

mainly

(if

not

exclu-

sively)

the

political,

legal,

demographic,

and

economic

aspects

of

the

problem.

To

supply

a

long-felt

need,

the

reviewed

sym-

posium

concentrated

on

psychological

and

mental

health

peculiarities

of

the

refugee

in

various

conditions

and

stages

of

his

existence;

it

deals

almost

exclusively

with

the

D.

P.

type

of

refugee

who

has

lost

his

homeland,

and

who

must

seek

resettlement

among

people

of

a

different

culture.

How-

ever,

there

is

a

provocative

article

by

Miriam

L.

Goertner

comparing

German

refugees

and

Puerto

Rican

migrants

in

New

York

City.

The

book

opens

with

Dr.

Murphy’s

in-

troduction

on

&dquo;The

Extent

of

the

Prob-

lem,&dquo;

giving

its

logical

delimitation,

cate-

gories,

and

numbers

of

people

involved

in

the

refugee

movements.

There

follows

(as

Part

I)

two

articles

on

flight

and

its

im-

mediate

aftermath.

Part

II,

Displaced

Per-

son

includes,

apart

from

Dr.

Murphy’s

in-

teresting

observations

about

the

ill

effects

of

life

in

any

camp,

a

description

of

what

the

Allies

found

in

Germany

after

her

de-

feat.

Especially

gruesome

is

the

picture

of

thousands

of

children

completely

on

their

own;

children

from

concentration

camps

with

numbers

tattoed

on

their

forearms;

Jewish

children,

some

of

them

&dquo;fortunate

enough

to

look

like

Angels&dquo;

who

&dquo;found

sanctuary

in

Christian

homes,&dquo;

and

others

who

managed

to

survive

&dquo;living

in

cellars

during

the

day

and

creeping

out

at

night

in

search

of

sustenance.&dquo;

Part

III,

the

most

rich

in

material,

deals

with

psycho-

logical

and

sociological

aspects

of

resettle-

ment

and

Part

IV

especially

with

refugee

psychosis.

The

main

value

of

the

book

lies

in

the

mass

of

factual

data

describing

human

beings

with

a

tragic

past

and

the

difficulties

of

their

adjustment

to

a

new

and

strange

milieu.

Generalizations

are

sometimes

less

successful.

Even

an

admirer

of

Freud

will

hardly

enjoy

it

when

Dr.

Prine

(a

Dutch

physician),

in

his

brilliant

autobiographic

sketch,

characterizes

his

and

his

comrades

flight

to

England

as

&dquo;running

away

from

the

bad

castrating

father

to

the

good

Queen

mother.&dquo;

&dquo;

The

Editor,

Dr.

Murphy,

has

not

only

contributed

five

articles

of

a

total

of

six-

teen,

he

also

has

supplied

several

others

with

introductory

notes

which

help

to

pre-

serve

the

unity

of

the

book,

so

often

lack-

ing

in

symposia.

The

bibliography

is

rich

and

well

organized.

Maps

and

diagrams

show

the

distribution

of

refugees.

The

text

of

the

book

is

supplemented

by

twenty-

nine

skillfully

made

and

well

annotated

illustrations.

EUGENE

KULISCHER

Washington,

D.

C.

COUNCIL

OF

STATE

GOVERNMENTS.

The

States

and

Their

Older

Citizens:

A

Report

to

the

Governors’

Conference.

Pp.

xvii,

176.

Chicago,

Ill.:

Council

of

State

Governments,

1955.

$3.00.

Older

persons

are

considered

a

problem

today.

They

constitute

a

large

and

in-

creasing

proportion

of

our

population.

Economic

and

social

changes

that

have

taken

place

in

the

United

States

have

al-

tered

the

position

of

the

aged,

posing

problems

for

state

and

local

governments

and

for

many

private

agencies.

The

size

of

the

problem

of

the

aged

is

suggested

by

the

fact

that

the

rate

of

in-

crease

of

older

persons

is

twice

that of

the

total

population;

the

percentage

of

older

men

who

have

jobs

is

constantly

decreas-

ing ;

older

people

have

sharply

lower

in-

comes

than

the

middle-aged

and

for

many

these

incomes

are

grossly

inadequate;

the

cost

of

Old-Age

and

Survivors

Insurance

continues

to

increase;

the

aged

suffer

dis-

proportionately

from

chronic

illness

and

are

the

least

insured

against

hospitalization

costs;

a

tremendous

rise

has

occurred

in

the

number

and

proportion

of

the

aged

in

mental

hospitals;

and

there

is

a

lack

of

specific

services

for

older

people

and

quali-

fied

staff

to

man

them.

The

Governors’

Conference

requested

the

Council

of

State

Governments

to

&dquo;provide

a

basis

for

intelligent

planning

of

adequate

care,

treatment

and

rehabilitation

facilities