REVIEW OF EVENTS

WITH THE OCCUPATION of the Low Countries and the collapse of France, continental Europe can now be called a veritable trap for the Jews. To the number of Jews already under the Nazi domination, there were added about 84,000 residents of Belgium, about 200,000 of Holland, and nearly 450,000 residents of France. The relatively scarce information from the Lowlands tells of the arrests and return to Germany of refugees and of increasing mistreatment and economic elimination of native Jews. There is a justifiable fear that the Nazi demands on France may include the intro- duction of some form of racial policy, modified to a certain extent because of the strength of the traditions of democracy and equality in the first European country to emancipate the Jews. Today, Western and Central Europe, with some exceptions, are dominated by the forces of racialism and anti-Semitism, and coordinated by Nazi policy. The panicky switching of alliances is extending this controlled area, as in the case of Rumania, which is today a completely racist state, and through the growing influence of pro- Nazi elements in such countries as Hungary, where anti-Jewish policies are becoming more and more vicious. Furthermore, Nazi fifth column propa- ganda outside of Europe is continuing to exploit anti-Semitism in its efforts at further domination. Its poisonous influences have become in- creasingly felt in the New World, as evidenced by recent happenings in sev- eral Latin American countries. The combat against them, therefore, be- comes a life or death struggle by the democracies.

THE FATE of specifically Jewish refugees has become an issue of relatively lesser importance in the eyes of the world because of the presence of mil- lions of others in a similar position in the Nazi dominated territories. Most tragic is the lot of the thousands of German emigres—particularly those who actively fought nazism and thus became the special objects of Nazi revenge—who sought shelter in Holland, Belgium and France only to be handed over to the Nazis as part of the dictated armistice terms. Relatively few have managed to escape into England and Portugal.

THE ENTRY of Italy into the war has placed the Jewish communities in the Mediterranean in the direct line of danger. Those in Tangier as well as 408 REVIEW OF EVENTS 409 in the French possessions in North Africa are now exposed to the hazards of Spanish fascism and the changes in the government policy of France. faces direct Italian attacks. The sympathy of the Arab, and par- ticularly the Jewish, communities with the war aims of the Allies continues to be expressed in a number of practical ways, such as voluntary military service, defense loans and economic coordination. Arab and Jewish collabo- ration in the economic and cultural field is slowly erasing the efforts of four years of terroristic propaganda and acts. The uncertain status of Syria, however, has brought to the fore new proposals for an Arab Fed- eration of States, which may profoundly alter the position of the Jewish National Home.

WITH THE INCORPORATION of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina as well as the virtual extension of Soviet rule over the Baltic republics, the Soviet Union now includes in its population more than half of Europe's Jews. While looking forward, as in the case of Bessarabia, to liberation from racist policies, the Jews of these countries are exposed to the existing conflict between Soviet ideology and the religious and cultural patterns of Judaism.

THE ATTENTION of Jews in the United States was directed mainly toward the problem of relieving war victims, while preparations were made for the reception of refugee children from England. Much attention was focused on the convention of the Zionist Organization of America, which resulted in a complete change of administration. The verdict reached in the Chris- tian Front trial in Brooklyn, N. Y., and the increasing venom of Father Coughlin's propaganda were more than offset by concrete evidences of the spirit of national unity in the face of events abroad. These were expressed in the general temper of the public, the weakening of anti-Jewish and Nazi propaganda, and the increased demand by the public for vigorous action against fifth column activities. 410 CHRONICLES

RECORD OF EVENTS: MAY-JUNE

UNITED STATES gram, promotion of religious and demo- cratic ideals, serious consideration of Shock and horror were felt through- the duties of the Jewish community in out the nation following France's col- the present emergency, and the develop- lapse and capitulation to the Nazi con- ment of Palestine were themes stressed queror. Plans to bring evacuated French at national conventions of many Ameri- and British children of all faiths to this can Jewish organizations held during country under the quota were being this period. A national committee for rushed by American officials, it was the defense of democracy and a national learned on June 24. Canada's offer to receive British child refugees obtained program to promote Jewish religious support from the United States Com- education were formed by the conven- mittee for the Care of European Chil- tion of the United Synagogue in Atlantic dren, organized June 20 at a meeting of City, N. J., on May 12-13. Meeting in relief and charitable agencies, including Atlantic City at the same time, the Jewish welfare organizations. Previ- National Federation of Men's Clubs ously, the Federation of Polish Jews, at and the Women's Division of the United a conference held on May 28, appealed Synagogue stressed similar goals. The to the President to facilitate entry of annual meeting of the Central Con- child refugees. The Morning Journal ference of American Rabbis at Char- (N. Y.) also revealed on June 27 that levoix, Mich., June 18-23, recorded its it was organizing a movement in co- support of government measures to aid operation with the Union of Orthodox the Allies, condemned anti-alien legisla- Rabbis to rescue children from war tion, called for liberal social legislation areas. and proposed a unified Jewish organiza- tion to deal with post-war problems. Refugee Aid Similar views were expressed at the annual meeting of the Rabbinical As- The National Refugee Service re- sembly of America in Detroit, June ported on May 3 that 1,522 refugees 25-28. were resettled during the first three Baccalaureate exercises at the U. S. months of 1940. Two new services were Military Academy, West Point, in- also established: an Advisory Commit- cluded a Jewish service, the first given, tee on Housing, which assisted in hous- for 11 Jewish Chapel Squad members ing 1,315 families, and an Agriculture of the class graduated on June 9. For- Agency, cooperating with the Jewish mation of a committee of rabbis and Agricultural Society in farm resettle- teachers to plan a program of pupil ment. Progress in other refugee settle- activities in religious schools was an- ment plans was also reported. The nounced by the Jewish Education Com- Alaska colonization scheme, urged again mittee, May 19. Commencement exer- by Secretary of the Interior Ickes be- cises were held at the Hebrew Union fore a Senate sub-committee on May College, which ordained 13 rabbis on 13, was endorsed by many national May 25; the Jewish Institute of Re- leaders as a defense measure. It was ligion, graduating 8 on June 2; the also learned on May 23 that President Jewish Theological Seminary, where 24 Quezon of the Philippine Islands had students received degrees on June 9; endorsed the Mindanao project, previ- and the Yeshiva College, graduating 37 ously reported dropped, when he dedi- on June 20. cated Mariquina Hall for Jewish refugees in Quezon City on April 24. An appeal to the British Government for revision of its Palestine policy, was Jewish Communal Life made by the Mizrachi convention in Baltimore, Md., May 20-21. The Jew- Approval of the national defense pro- ish National Workers Alliance, meeting UNITED STATES 411

United States—Continued vention in New York, May 20-22, heard in Detroit May 30-June 3, decided to Governor Lehman and other speakers raise $100,000 for the purchase of Pales- urge America to erect "inner defenses." tine land. Funds for the Red Mögen On June 16, this organization an- David (equivalent of the Red Cross) nounced plans to purchase an ambulance in Palestine were voted by the Order for Allied use. The same day, the Amer- Sons of Zion at its Atlantic City con- ican Jewish Congress announced that it vention, June 16-17. President Roose- would support the Committee to De- velt's national defense program was en- fend America by Aiding the Allies. The dorsed. The National Council of Zion- convention at Asbury Park, N. J., June ist Youth Organizations also adopted a 8-10, of the Federation of Polish Jews resolution advocating American aid to also adopted resolutions in support of the Allies short of war, it was learned the national defense program. June 26. Formation of a Jewish youth organi- Prediction of the formation of a "co- zation to cooperate with Protestant and belligerent" Jewish army fighting as an Catholic groups in fighting communism ally of Britain was made by Vladimir and nazism was announced on May 13 Jabotinsky at a New York meeting on by Oscar Kanny, president of the or- June 19 sponsored by the Revisionist ganization, who resigned from the Zionists. Leaders of the Zionist Or- American Youth Congress for its fail- ganization, conferring with British Am- ure to condemn the Soviet invasion of bassador Lord Lothian in Washington Finland. Withdrawal from the Youth on June 17, however, dissociated them- Congress of the Junior Hadassah on selves from the Jabotinsky plan, point- May 14 and of the National Young ing out that Palestine Jews were already Judea the next day for similar reasons registered for defense of the homeland. was also reported. The American Jew- Appealing for coordination of Zionist ish Congress on June 23 announced efforts and increased American aid to dissolution of its youth division after Palestine, the forty-third annual con- the division's national council refused to vention of the Zionist Organization of withdraw from the Youth Congress or America, met in Pittsburgh, Pa., on to repudiate the stand taken by its New June 30-July 2. The anticipated con- York chapter against aid to the Allies. troversy concerning its leadership and Previously, the policy committee of the future policy was harmoniously settled, Jewish War Veterans voted to petition and Edmund I. Kaufmann of Washing- Congress to outlaw the Communist ton, D. C., was elected president. Party, it was announced June 6. An- Social welfare and fraternal organi- other item of interest was the announce- zations meeting during this period in- ment by the Jewish Community Center cluded the National Conference of Jew- of Kansas City on June 18 that it was ish Social Welfare and its affiliates at sponsoring at least 50 Jewish youths in Pittsburgh, May 22-26, which elected pilot training courses. Dr. Maurice Taylor of that city as News was received on May 8 that president. Governor Lehman warned the Jewish World, Philadelphia Yiddish against intolerance at the convention of daily, suspended publication due to the Independent Order B'rith Abraham, financial difficulties. held in Saratoga Springs, N. Y., June 23-25, where a "Save America" cam- Anti-Jewish Developments paign through unity of Christians and Trial of 14 Christian Front members Jews was launched. Previously, the in Brooklyn Federal Court on charges Order B'rith Sholom, meeting in At- of sedition and theft of government lantic City on June 16, endorsed a property ended on June 24 with the ac- similar program and urged aid to the quittal of 9 and jury disagreement in Allies. the other 5 cases. The next day, Father The American Jewish Congress Coughlin predicted strengthening of the Women's Division, at its annual con- Christian Front and increase of anti- 412 CHRONICLES

United States—Continued investigating discovery of a swastika Semitism as the result of the trial. banner flying over Union Hill High Meanwhile, the June 17 issue of Cough- School on June 15. At Newton, N. J., lin's Social Justice resumed its anti- Sheriff Denton Quick stated on June Semitic tone. It was also learned on 26 that German-American Bund mem- June 19 that its editorial director, Louis bers held vital posts in government ar- B. Ward, had resigned his post to seek senals and factories producing war ma- the Michigan Democratic nomination terial. At the same time, the Dies for senator. Committee announced on June 24 that News about other anti-Semitic can- between 40 and 50 subpoenas were is- didates for political offices included the sued for leaders in three Italian and German organizations in Chicago. defeat of Kenneth A. Brown in the Previously, the Italian Consulate in Congressional election of May 17 in New York was charged on June 13 in Portland, Ore., and of Sam D. Melson a Police Department memorandum with in the run-off primaries for the state spreading fascist and anti-Semitic propa- legislature, held May 28 in Jacksonville, ganda in the U. S. Fla. It was also learned on June 6 that Representative Jacob Thorkelson (Rep., Mont.) will be opposed for renomina- Pro-Democracy Activities tion by Jeanette Rankin. Attacks by A decline in anti-Semitism due to Thorkelson on the Non-Sectarian Anti- efforts of the inter-faith movements and Nazi League to Champion Human an increasing awareness of the use of Rights were answered by the League in anti-Semitism as a screen for Trojan- the Congressional Record of May 2 and horse tactics were noted in the annual May 16. Thorkelson's pro-Christian report of the National Conference of Front propaganda, inserted into the Christians and Jews, made public May Record, was denounced by Representa- 12. Methodists meeting in Brooklyn on tive Adolph Sabath in the House on May 18 adopted the report of their May 7. Joseph McWilliams, organizer Social Service Commission appealing to of the Christian Mobilizers and Ameri- Protestants to combat the Christian can Destiny Party candidate for Con- Front and repudiate Coughlin's activi- gress on a Nazi platform, was arrested ties. Inter-faith cooperation in solving in New York on June 21 on charges of the unemployment problem as a basic fomenting race hatred at street meet- factor in making democracy work was ings. It was learned on June 23 that a discussed by religious leaders at the new anti-democratic organization, the Inter-faith Conference on Unemploy- American-by-Statesmanship Crusade for ment in Washington, June 4. Interest the Restricted Franchise, urged in a was also shown in the statement of strongly anti-Semitic manifesto that "in- principles of religious liberty adopted feriors" among American citizens be de- by the nationwide conference on re- prived of the suffrage. ligious liberty, attended by 600 clergy- Other anti-Semitic activities included men and educators in Washington, June an attack on Jews by Dr. Pietro Car- 11. Postmaster General Farley sent a bonelli, correspondent of the Italian message to the conference warning Corriere della Serra at an Italian rally against intolerance as a "malignant dis- in New York on May 30. Attempts by ease." anti-Semitic propagandists to enlist sup- Expressions of tolerance and sym- port among American Indians have pathy for oppressed peoples were also proved unsuccessful, Indian Commis- included in the Republican Party plat- sioner Collier told a Senate committee form adopted at the Philadelphia Con- on June 10. On May 22, three Nazi vention on June 24. Previously, the agents distributing Nazi literature in executive Grand Council of the Sons Del Rio, Texas, were expelled by citi- of Italy Grand Lodge, N. Y., adopted zens of the town, headed by ex-service resolutions on June 17 reaffirming loy- men. Police of Union City, N. J., were alty to American principles and con- BRITISH COMMONWEALTH 413

United States—-Continued Leon S. Lang, Rabbinical Assembly of demning Nazi and Fascist persecution America; Harry Graver, Order Sons of Jews. A memorial denouncing anti- of Zion; Herman Hoffman, Order Semitism was adopted by the General B'rith Abraham; and Benjamin Winter, Assembly of the Church of the Naza- Federation of Polish Jews. rene, held in Oklahoma City, June Death claimed Emanuel Hertz, out- 16-24. standing authority on Lincoln, in New York on May 23,. and Dr. Zevi Diesen- Efforts to combat fifth column ac- druck, professor of Jewish philosophy tivities were marked by Attorney- at Hebrew Union College, in Cincin- General Robert Jackson's warning to nati, June 4. citizens on May 23 not to join organi- zations without first investigating them. BELGIUM The next day, Senator Champ Clark (Dem., Mo.) warned that the hunt for The treatment of Belgium's 84,000 members of the fifth column should not Jews, including 14,000 refugees from be confined to aliens but should include the Reich, was much the same as that such native Americans as General of their Dutch brethren. Despite diffi- Moseley. Similarly, Sec'y of Interior culties in obtaining accurate informa- Ickes, speaking on May 26 at the nine- tion, it was learned on June 2 that many tieth anniversary banquet of the Cleve- prominent members of the community land (O.) Temple, asserted that Amer- had disappeared and that Jewish estab- ica would tolerate no fifth column even lishments had, for the greater part, if it misused the word Christian or was already been "aryanized." Male refu- "led by a man in priestly garb or in his gees were interned on May 16, but country's uniform." On June 16, So- released the next day, according to licitor-General Francis Biddle, new statements made by exiles reaching Eng- head of the Immigration Bureau, ad- land. Many were said to have joined monished Americans against anti-alien the Belgian forces. hysteria and pledged that the Bureau All relief agencies operated by the would administer the new alien-control J.D.C. were closed down, their work laws with justice. being taken over by the Red Cross. Other activities in connection with Thousands of Belgian Jews managed to immigration include the introduction of escape to France, only to be trapped later, when that country surrendered. exclusionary bills into Congress, the Among them was Chief Rabbi Sagalo- most drastic of which, by Representative vitch of Brussels who was stranded at Carl Vinson (Dem., Ga.), would com- Toulouse and was reported, on June pletely bar all quota immigrants, it was 27, to be seeking an American visa in learned May 8. On May 22, Repre- order to take up a new post in Indian- sentative Martin Dies (Dem., Tex.) apolis. Of the Jews left in Belgium, introduced a bill (H.R. 9858) which many were compelled, according to re- would cut present quotas by two-thirds ports of June 10, to clean the streets of and limit entrance to husbands, wives debris caused by bombardment. and minor children of citizens. BRITISH COMMONWEALTH Personalities GREAT BRITAIN The following were elected to head American Jewish organizations at na- Refugees tional conventions held during this The war situation and the threat of period: Louis J. Moss, United Syna- invasion seriously affected the position gogue; Mrs. Samuel S. Spiegel, of refugees. As a precaution against Women's League of the United Syna- possible sabotage, the government, on gogue; Rabbi Emil Leipziger, Central May 13, ordered about 3,000 German Conference of American Rabbis; Rabbi and Austrian males to be interned on 414 CHRONICLES

Great Britain—Continued participation in the local defense or- the Isle of Man. Three days later, the ganizations. Similar decisions were detention was ordered of all men be- taken in other parts of the country. tween 16 and 60 belonging to the "B" Moreover, a government statement in category of aliens, that is, persons per- Commons on June 25 declared that mitted restricted freedom. On May 27, German and Austrian refugee children women in this class were also rounded would be excluded from the plan to up, and on June 10, the age limit for send children to the Dominions. On the men was raised to 70. The drive was other hand, the Home Secretary an- subsequently extended to persons regis- nounced on June 13 that refugees hold- tered in the "C" category of "friendly" ing visas for America would be released and unrestricted foreigners. On June when their quota number came up. 26, 400 such persons were arrested for The internment of the refugees, internment. many of whom were engaged in indus- Two facts served to offset the drastic try, threw 2,000 British workers out of character of these measures. The first jobs, according to an estimate published was a laudatory account, in the News on June 5. Resolutions submitted to the Chronicle of June 7, of conditions in national conference of the British Labor the women's internment center at Port Party on May 12 demanded temporary Erin, Isle of Man. The second was the asylum for all refugees, to be followed statement on June 21 by Home Secre- by schemes for permanent settlement. tary Sir John Anderson that 52,000 The conference also adopted a resolu- Jewish refugees were not to be in- tion condemning the government's Pal- terned. estine policy and advocating further Most newspapers described the in- Jewish immigration. ternment as an unfortunate, but neces- The government has insisted, for its sary, step in the national defense. A part, that the steps taken are an act of Times leader of May 14 suggested that precaution, not of hostility, and that it would protect aliens from suspicion internment carries with it no automatic in the event of a successful invasion, while on June 2, the Daily Telegraph stigma. On June 6, it was announced in published a letter by Sir John Hope Commons that government grants to the Simpson, Josiah Wedgwood, M.P., and Central Committee for Refugees others, appealing for the protection of amounted to date to £207,000. the innocently interned against ma- Anti-Jewish Activities licious gossip. On the other hand, cer- tain newspapers adopted a less sym- In a comprehensive roundup of po- pathetic attitude. Lord Rothermere tentially subversive elements, several clamored in his Daily Mail for the leading anti-Semites were arrested and wholesale detention of all aliens, and imprisoned. Sir Oswald Mosley, leader the Sunday Dispatch of June 5 con- of the British Fascists, was seized on tained an article demanding that the May 23 and put in Brixton prison for interned, described as "happy guests," the duration of the war. Others arrested be compelled to pay for their main- on the same date were Major Archi- tenance. bald Maule-Ramsay, M.P.; N. Francis Hawkins, director-general of Mosley's Nor was internment the only measure British Union; John Beckett, former that affected the refugees. On May 30, aide of Mosley and currently secretary a curfew confined all aliens to their of Lord Tavistock's British Council for homes between the hours of 10:30 P.M. Christian. Settlement; and Mrs. Dacre (in the London area, midnight) and Fox, secretary of the Anti-Vivisection 6:00 A.M., while on June 20, an order Society. The offices of that organization was issued dismissing 50 alien doctors. were raided, and the government later On June 6, the Southgate Borough announced that fascist propaganda had Council barred aliens and naturalized been conducted from it. On June 7, citizens of "enemy alien" origin from Home Secretary Anderson reported to BRITISH COMMONWEALTH 415

Great Britain—Continued dated May 14. A new order excludes Commons that 515 persons, mostly Mos- them from the right of signing death ley Fascists, had been seized thus far. certificates or administering certain Others rounded up include the brothers drugs, but permits them to list them- of William Joyce, alleged to be "Lord selves as unregistered practitioners. A Haw-Haw" of the German broadcasts, few Austrian and Hungarian physicians themselves leaders of an independent were, however, granted full licenses. fascist organization; and A. Raven The Jewish community of Australia, Thompson, prominent Fascist and anti- according to the same reports, has re- Semitic propagandist; E. W. Smith, a sponded nobly to the refugee situation. Fascist who attempted to post a list of During the past three years, more than alleged Jewish "column-dodgers," was £25,000 was raised for relief from a sentenced to 3 months at hard labor on Jewish population of only 27,000. In June 8. The British Union was forced the past two years, 350 refugees have to end its activities and cease publica- been trained in Australia and settled on tion of its journal, Action, on June 14. the land. Communal Activities Canada It was announced at Leeds on May Parallel with the clean-up of the 9, that of 1,000 conscientious objectors Mosley Fascists in England, the Ca- examined by the local tribunal, only 3 nadian Government ordered the sup- were Jews. Jewish support of the na- pression of the anti-Semitic National tional cause was shown further by the Unity Party on May 30. The leaders of pledge of the Anglo-Jewish Associa- the group, including Adrien and Henry tion, in its annual report submitted on Arcand, Noel Decarle, Hughes Clement June 4, to make such support a primary and Maurice Scott, were arrested. The aim of the organization. Intercession trial of Adrien Arcand on a charge of services were held in all synagogues subversive activities opened on June 19, upon the suggestion of the King on May and two days later it was announced by 26, and again on June 22. Minister of Justice Lapointe that he The war situation took toll of the would be interned for the duration of historic Jews' Temporary Shelter, well- the war. Technocracy, Inc., suspected known haven of refugees for several as a quasi-fascist organization was also generations, and on May 5 it closed its closed by police on June 21. doors. The English Zionist Federation's W. H. Nelson, 22, a Canadian Jew, convention, scheduled for June 23, was was awarded the Distinguished Flying cancelled on account of the present Cross on June 4, for gallant service. situation. Union of South Africa Personalities Official figures published in Die Colonel H. L. Nathan, prominent Volksblad on April 20 revealed that Jewish communal figure, was elevated during the first quarter of the current to the peerage on June 17. Leslie Hore- year 402 Jews had entered the Union, Belisha, former Minister for War, and 168 for permanent residence. Attempts Neville Jonas Laski, former President to ban Jewish immigration were re- of the Board of Deputies, were among jected by the government, on May 14, those elected to the latter body as repre- according to a statement by Minister sentatives of the Spanish and Portuguese of the Interior Harry G. Lawrence. Synagogue. The creation of a new Christian Re- public Movement, headed by Dr. C. J. THE DOMINIONS H. de Wet, and aiming at the elimina- tion of Jews from the Union, was an- Australia nounced on May 23, while on May 28, Drastic measures were taken against National Deputy Eric Louw, speaking refugee physicians, according to reports at a meeting in Tulbach, described the 416 CHRONICLES

The Dominions—Continued and other Czech authors. Instructions Jews as "the greatest self-help society" had been given previously to all public and urged country lawyers who sent libraries and bookstores to remove work into the towns to commit it only to works by Max Brod, Kafka, Langer Afrikaaners. Addressing the House of and other Jewish writers. Assembly earlier in the same month, The disabilities inflicted upon Jews Deputy F. C. Erasmus accused the has caused a number to seek refuge in South African Board of Jewish Depu- conversion to Christianity. On May 8, ties of being a "spy organization" de- however, it was reported that mission- signed to place "innocent people" in ary activity among the Jews in Praha concentration camps. Challenged to jus- had been proscribed. The 66-year-old tify this statement, he declared that he Praha priest, Dr. Ferdinand Hrouda, could furnish no proof for it. who, out of sympathy for their plight, By a resolution passed on June 2, had antedated the conversion records of the South African Board of Jewish certain Jews, was imprisoned on June 9. Deputies pledged the support of all Surprise was aroused on May 31 by Jews in the Union to the Allied cause the recall, for military service in Ger- in the present war. Opening the new many of Gauleiter Karl Hermann Jewish Orphanage at Capetown on Frank, Nazi "boss" of Bohemia-Mo- May 5, Minister of Finance and Edu- ravia. Bribery and dissensions with von cation J. H. Hofmeyr praised Jewish Neurath were rumored to be the cause. care of the needy and condemned anti- Semitism. Max Sonnenberg, M.P., SLOVAKIA prominent philanthropist, donated £6,000 to the fund for bringing refugee Details of the "aryanization" law children from Great Britain to South passed in February were published in Africa. the Neue Tag of April 27. Jews are forbidden to establish new, or take over Cyprus old, trade and industrial enterprises. They are also prohibited from acquir- It was reported on June 9 that 114 ing trade licenses. Their shops must be German refugees on this strategically clearly marked "Jewish enterprises," and important island have been interned as their businesses must, in any case, be a precautionary measure against sabo- liquidated within three months. The tage. number of Jews employed in trade and industry is to be progressively reduced CZECHOSLOVAKIA from 25% at the end of 1940 to 10% after 1942. In other enterprises it is to BOHEMIA-MORAVIA be restricted to 4%. It was reported on May 8 that 1,200 Jewish trade licenses The dispossession of the Jews con- had already been withdrawn and that tinued unabated. On May 5, the Jewish Jews were being compelled to serve in population in Praha was ordered to labor battalions in lieu of the 2 years move to the already overcrowded ghetto statutory military service. The elimina- quarter, and on May 27, it was reported tion of Jews from the liberal profes- that all Jews in the city had been sions was illustrated by the listing in evacuated from the municipal dwell- Slovak of June 5 of 248 Jewish doctors ings. A refugee related that they were barred from practice. being compelled in some cases to pay a special "dejudaization" tax of 1,000 Jews in Bratislava were excluded kronen on leaving their former homes. from most of the city's cafes by the end By an order of Reich Protector von of May. On June 16, the Jewish hos- Neurath, Jews were barred on June 16 pital was commandeered for wounded from bathing in lakes, rivers, or public Nazi soldiers, and a week later the his- baths. They were also excluded from toric synagogue, first established in parks and orchards, and forbidden to 1399, as well as the ancient ghetto, was own books by Masaryk, Benes, Capek scheduled for demolition. FRANCE 417

DENMARK in Bordeaux on June 4, had tcr be aban- doned. A stampede began in the 'direc- The unexpectedness of the Nazi ir- tion of the North African colonies, neu- ruption rendered it impossible for the tral Spain and Portugal. The road be- majority of Denmark's Jewish citizens tween French Hendaye and Spanish to escape. Some few hundred managed Irun became choked with fugitives. It to reach Malmö and Halsingbörd in was reported on June 27 that 400,000 Sweden by crossing the sea in open Jews, including 40,000 German refu- boats. Danish pilots refused to take gees, were seeking to cross the frontier. them for fear of danger from mines. Panic was created on June 28 by the The fate of those who were left behind publication of the armistice terms, Ar- is not yet fully ascertained. It was re- ticle XIX of which stipulated that Ger- ported in the Morning Journal (N. Y.) man political refugees were to be of May 7 that they were being driven handed over to Hitler. It was previ- into forced labor. On May 10, five ously reported, on June 20, that Her- theaters in Copenhagen were said to schel Grynszpan, imprisoned in 1938 in have been closed owing to the fact that connection with the assassination of the Jewish actors were playing in them. German embassy official Vom Rath, had Releases of the same date announced fallen into Nazi hands; and on June that Jews had been forbidden to act as 26, it was announced by Hendrik Wil- bankers or to deal in jewelry, while on lem van Loon that the famous German June 5, it was reported that all Jewish Jewish writer Franz Werfel had been students had been expelled from uni- seized and killed. versities and high schools, and that Jew- Meanwhile, the victorious Nazis ish lawyers and physicians had been opened a campaign of great virulence debarred. German Jewish youths train- against the Jews, attempting to persuade ing on the land for emigration to Pales- the French people that Jews were re- tine were originally stated to have been sponsible for the national calamity. On spared molestation on condition that June 18, the charge was spread in a they register with the German commis- new paper, Lex Paris, and simultane- sar, but according to later dispatches ously it was broadcast over the Nazi- they were rounded up and sent to con- controlled French radio. It was reported centration camps in the Reich. that on June 27, just before the Ger- man entry, anti-Jewish demonstrations took place around the Rivoli in Paris * FRANCE and also, according to German reports, in Toulouse. The subsequent publica- Vae Victis! tion of the Italian armistice terms gave The invasion of The Netherlands and rise to further apprehension concerning the defeat of France together created the fate of the Jews in areas ceded to a tragedy which beggars description. the Axis partner. Fears were raised On May 15, as a precautionary de- concerning the possible policies of the fense measure, the French Government new government toward Jews. ordered the immediate internment of all Events preceding the surrender now German and Austrian refugees, about possess but historic interest. On May 16,000 men- and women. Less than a 17, it was announced that 3,000 Jews week later, a further stream of exiles, were fighting with the Polish forces including 10,000 Jews, came pouring in stationed in the Maginot Line. On May from the Low Countries, and on May 27, intercession services were held in 21, it was decided to place these also all synagogues. The two sons of Baron under detention. Then came the Nazi Robert de Rothschild, who were serv- irruption and the subsequent capitula- ing with the forces, were reported miss- tion of the country on June 22. The ing on June 25, at the same time that communal structure of French Jewry their father was noticed standing in a collapsed overnight. Plans laid by relief breadline on "board a crowded tanker organizations, which had hired offices making for'England. 418 CHRONICLES GERMANY especially Governor Lehman and Sec- retary Morgenthau with the fate of The extent of the Jewish exodus from their European coreligionists. Finally, Germany was revealed by the publica- on June 26, after the French capitula- tion, in May, of the 1939 census figures. tion, Minister of Labor Ley declared These showed that the Jewish popula- the expulsion of the Jews to be the tion had fallen from 1% in pre-Hitler primary necessity of the new Europe. times to 0.4% of the total, and num- bered only 330,892 persons. This aggre- Austria gate, however, included all "half-Jews," An anti-Semitic campaign of extraor- "quarter-Jews," and those married to dinary virulence was launched by the Jews, and covered the entire area of Rumanian-language broadcasts from the new Greater Germany. Vienna. On June 5, the speaker an- nounced that at the conclusion of pres- Legislation ent hostilities one Jew would be killed in vengeance for every fallen German The exigencies of the war situation soldier. The position of Viennese Jewry compelled a revision of anti-Jewish leg- has deteriorated rapidly. On June 25, it islation. It was announced on June 6 was reported from Bucharest that that all Jews, previously barred, were famine was expected in Austria and now liable to military service. On the that 46,000 Jews were being employed same date, the Berlin Jewish Com- for a pittance loading trains and on munity was ordered to open a bureau building jobs. Women were being driven for the registration of Jewish phy- to work in the fields. sicians, dentists and engineers for work with the army. Medical men through- out the Reich, who had been excluded HUNGARY from practice by the Nuremberg Laws, were summoned, also on June 6, to re- Anti-Jewish Legislation port for service in the military hospitals. The elimination of Jews from the From Riga came a report on June 16 economic life of the country proceeded that 1,500 Jews had now been given with increased severity. The licenses of employment on the railways and in agri- Jewish tobacconists were revoked by culture, and that a further 1,500 "non- government decree on May 2, while on Aryans" were engaged in the electrical May 5, Jewish contracts for national trade. building operations were limited to 20%. This followed an earlier advertise- A week later, the permits of all Jewish ment in the Jüdisches Nachrichtenblatt innkeepers and restaurateurs within 15 of April 16, inviting Jews to apply for miles of the frontiers were withdrawn. employment in the building industry. On May 24, Hamgya, the national live- Significant also was the cessation, an- stock and fodder cooperative, was pro- nounced on May 24, of Jewish trans- hibited from buying from Jews. On the ports to the Lublin reservation, the al- same date, 275 Jews employed on mu- leged reason being lack of trains. nicipal relief projects in Budapest were summarily dismissed. This was fol- Propaganda lowed on May 30 by the serving of one day notice upon all Jewish trolley and Nevertheless, the propaganda attack bus motormen and conductors, and on upon the Jews continued without abate- ment. On May 14, it was reported that June 21 by the revocation of licenses non-Jewish prisoners-of-war were granted to some 300 Jewish innkeepers being systematically indoctrinated with in Carpatho-Ukraine. anti-Semitism by means of special Especially ruthless was the persecu- courses conducted in 12 languages, while tion of Jews in Carpatho-Ukraine and on June 9 a Nazi radio broadcast southern Slovakia. Following the earlier threatened Jews of the United States, removal from their posts of 700 Jew- ITALY 419

Hungary—Continued passing of a law closing down all relief ish merchants, artisans, clerks and civil committees and ordering the deporta- employees in the famous Hassidic city tion of their beneficiaries to Poland. of Munkacs, it was reported on June 7 that 320 families had been expelled ITALY from Kassa, and that 2,000 Jewish trad- Italian persecution of the Jews in- ers in the counties of Ung, Ugossa and creased in intensity during the period Bereg had had their licenses withdrawn. under review, reaching a climax fol- Altogether, according to figures pub- lowing the declaration of war against lished on June 30, about 224,000 Jews, France and Britain on June 10. On or 40% of the total, have been affected May 2, police officials refused renewal by anti-Jewish legislation. Nor is this of licenses to Jewish-owned cafes, bars confined to immediate economic priva- and jewellers' shops; and on May 19, tion. On May 2, for example, it was access to national archives was pro- reported that all Jewish-owned land in hibited to Jewish scholars. Paris re- Bekes and Szoldik was to be listed for leases of the same date reported that "redistribution," though no mention Jewish refugees from Poland, awaiting was made at the time of any question boats at Trieste, had been threatened of compensation. On the same date, an with expulsion within 30 days. These order was issued requiring the registra- included a group of colonists bound for tion by June 15 of all Jewish postal the new settlement in Santo Domingo. officials. Again, on May 24, Jewish re- On May 22, all Jews, including those servists were called to the colors with on their way to the United States, were the express provision that no Jew could barred from entry to the country. become an officer or receive a decora- Anti-Jewish excesses broke out at tion. Trieste during the first week of May, Eloquent of persecution on the purely but attempts to promote similar vio- political front is the fact that only 261 lence in Rome were curbed by police. Jews now remain on the voting register On June 2, guards were placed in at Pest, as against 18,601 last year. The front of Jewish shops in Trieste to prevent further outbreaks. formation, on June 24, of a new Nazi With the entry of Italy into the war, coalition, the Hungarian National So- a number of measures were taken cialist Party, under the leadership of against both the native and alien Jew- Deputy Maty as Matoky, prominent ish population. On June 14, all Jewish anti-Semite, further increased Jewish bank accounts were blocked by govern- apprehension and alarm. ment order, and stocks and materials owned by Jews were ordered to be Refugees registered. Refugees were interned on Following the example of the Greek the same date, and on June 16, all alien and Yugoslavian Governments, a law organizations, except those of a philan- was issued on May 22 making the har- thropic character, were compelled to boring of illegal immigrants an offence close. On June 24, however, it was re- punishable by heavy fines. Intervention ported that all internees were being by the Budapest Jewish Community, treated well and regarded only as however, secured the concession that "minor political prisoners." Following 5,000 refugees would be retained pro- the German model, Jews were included vided they were confined to camps and in the general mobilization order, and succoured exclusively by that body. On Jewish physicians, previously barred June 4, a further order was published, from practice, were drafted for army forbidding transit through Hungary of service. Jewish refugees travelling in contin- A demand for the "liberation" of gents, and fourteen days later it was re- Palestine was addressed to Premier ported that the drive against war fugi- Mussolini by 30 Italian bishops on tives had reached its climax in the June 24, and the clamor was taken up 420 CHRONICLES

Italy—Continued Jewish religious and communal organi- in the general press six days later. An zations of the country, was announced interesting sidelight on Italian anti- on June 12. Victor Corry, head of the Jewish propaganda methods was shed Sephardic community, was chosen presi- by a Paris report of June 13, three days dent. Other Jewish communal activities after Italy's entry. into the war, that of interest include the incorporation of special Nazi instructors were being im- the "Foundation for an Argentine Chair ported to indoctrinate the people with in the Hebrew University," supported anti-Semitic ideas. by outstanding personalities in Argen- tine political and cultural life, reported on June 1 by Mundo Israelita (Buenos LATIN AMERICA Aires). In Mexico, Der fVeg reported Immigration on May 4 that Jewish organizations were prepared to send 100,000 pesos to A group of 142 Rumanian Jewish purchase steamship tickets for Jewish emigrants to be settled in Argentina by emigrants to Palestine. On May 28, it the Jewish Colonization Association announced the formation by Ashkenazic left Europe for Buenos Aires, it was women of a Women's Zionist Organiza- learned May 5. It was also reported on tion, to supplement the Sephardic May 10 that preparations to colonize women's group. The same source re- 50 Jewish refugee families on the Isle vealed on June 15 that the Jewish Cen- of Chiloe in South Chile, sponsored by tral Committee will purchase several the Circulo Israelita of Chile, were ambulances for Red Cross work with completed. the Allied forces. At the same time legal measures re- stricting immigration were adopted in Nazi Activities many Latin American countries. A Bo- livian decree of May 3 suspends further Widespread fifth column activities, Jewish immigration indefinitely and in- led by Nazi groups and using anti- structs Bolivian consulates to advise Semitism as one of its weapons, were steamship companies not to book Jews revealed in many Latin American coun- for passage to Bolivia. Cuba announced tries. In Argentina, the penetration of on. May 7 that no political or religious Nazi agents in vital government posi- refugees will be admitted to the coun- tions was disclosed on May 26. Previ- try. It was also learned on June 6 that ously, at a public meeting on May 22, the draft of the new Cuban constitu- the Argentine Anti-Racist- Committee tion prohibits immigration of laborers strongly condemned racial hatred as and,permits only Cuban citizens to prac- harmful to national interests and called tice professions. It was further learned on June 13 that Mexico suspended quota for a liberal immigration policy. Legal immigration. In Chile, the Chamber of action against subversive activities in- Deputies adopted a Rightist resolution cluded a Senate amendment of June 30 demanding stricter penalties in connec- to the Public Order Bill, providing pun- tion with "illegal" entry of refugees. On ishment for racial and anti-democratic May 26, 8 German Jewish refugees propaganda. from Rotterdam were refused landing Bolivia, likewise, ordered a police permits in Chile despite intervention by inquiry into Nazi activities in German HIAS-ICA. Two days later, Brazilian schools, it was learned May 19. The authorities ordered more than 60 per- press urged the government to probe sons, including 56 Jews, residing in Säo further Nazi action, including a cam- Paulo on tourist visas, to leave the coun- paign in anti-Semitic newspapers for try immediately. expulsion of Jews, it was reported May 24. Growth of Nazi threats in Brazil Communal Affairs was revealed in a series of articles by Formation of a Central Committee Russell B. Porter to The New York for Chilean Jews, representing major Times (June 26-29) which disclosed THE NETHERLANDS 421

Latin America—Continued threatening to displace Mexicans from the extent of Nazi penetration and the their jobs. methods used by the Nazi Auslands- A widespread German plot, implicat- gestapo to force anti-Nazi Germans, in- ing the German Embassy, to take over cluding Jewish refugees, to engage in the Uruguayan Government was re- fifth column activities. It was also re- vealed in the report of the Congres- ported that Integralistas (Brazilian sional Committee Investigating Nazi Fascists), jailed in 1938, were return- Activities, made public in Montevideo ing to government and military posi- on June 19. Two days before, 10 Nazi tions. In Chile, the first street demon- leaders were arrested. This followed stration of the Chilean Fascist Party, the enactment of a bill on June 13 for- Moviemiento Nacionalista de Chile, bidding foreign propaganda and dissolv- was reported on May 29. Several hun- ing all parties which take instructions dred storm troopers marched through from foreign countries. Previously, an Valparaiso shouting anti-Jewish slo- investigation by Professor Hugo Artucio gans. On June 8, however, Minister of disclosed that the Nazi Party was re- Economics Oskar Schnake told a dele- sponsible for creating anti-Semitic senti- gation of the Poale Zion that anti- ment in Uruguay, reported May 4. Re- Semitism in Chile was an artificial prod- sentment was also provoked by the uct aimed at undermining the Popular threat of the Nazi paper, La Linea Front Government. Siegfrieda, of reprisals by Germany Fifth columnists under the leadership unless anti-Nazi utterances were stopped, it was learned May 24. of Nazi diplomatic officials were be- lieved able to rally 2,000,000 men in the Americas, it was estimated on June 8 THE NETHERLANDS by the newspaper Civilizacion, organ of the Anti-Racist Institute of Chile. Nazi Persecution agents were also reported active in Cuba where President Federico Laredo The Nazi occupation on May 14 Bru on May 23 ordered strict enforce- brought with it the virtual extinction of ment of the decree forbidding Nazi and this country's Jewish communities. communist propaganda. In Mexico, Some 200,000 persons were involved in General Juan Almazän, opposition can- this tragedy, including 23,000 refugees didate for president, in an interview on from the Reich. Owing to the general May 12, denounced anti-Semitism and disorganization and the rigors of the repudiated anti-Semitic groups who sup- German censorship, it has proved excep- ported him. Deportation of two Nazi tionally difficult to secure adequate in- agents from Mexico was reported on formation, and on many points the May 17. The German Embassy, in a greatest uncertainty and anxiety pre- statement published in Mexico on June vails. 8, accused the Jewish community of The procedure adopted by the in- forming a part of the real fifth column vaders followed the precedent set in against the country. Der Weg (June 7) Poland. On May 26, it was,» announced reported the renewal of an anti-Jewish that a special Jewish reservation was campaign by the El Universal, a leading being planned near Amsterdam, and daily. A strike, called by the Teachers four days later, Jewish communal or- Union on June' 22, and settled a few ganizations in that city, as \well as in days later by arbitration, in the local Rotterdam and The Hague, were*re- Jewish school because Ministry of Edu- ported closed by the Gestapo. Refugee cation regulations ordered the change and children's homes were taken over of status of a Mexican teacher was by the Nazis on June 5, while on June utilized by the communist controlled El 21, the famous Jewish old age home Popular and the attorney for the union at Amsterdam was commandeered by for propaganda against the Jewish the military. A week later, it was re- school and Jews who were allegedly vealed that Abraham Asscher, 80-year- 422 CHRONICLES

The Netherlands—Continued tremely scarce and comes only from old president of the Ashkenazic Jewish indirect sources. Refugees who managed Community, and head of the Alliance to reach Paris related that on April 9 Israelite Universelle in Holland, had the U. S. Consulate at Oslo had opened been executed, along with his two sons. its doors to many of Norway's German Dismissals and confiscations became Jewish refugees and had permitted them the order of the day. Reports received to remain there until they could escape on June 4 announced that Jewish busi- to Sweden. On May 6, it was learned ness men had been compelled to hand that all Jewish businesses in Oslo had over materials against certificates, while been closed by Nazi order, and on June 6, L'Oeuvre (Paris )reported that bru- as early as May 26, The New York talities against Jews were being in- Times correspondent in Arnheim related itiated under the supervision of Herr that notice had been served upon Jewish Stahlecker, Himmler henchman, who employees of several Dutch journals. had been brought from Praha for the On June 25, large numbers of Jewish purpose. diamond merchants were arrested, and Jewish attorneys were driven from the PALESTINE courts. Refugees For the first time in over two thou- sand years, Palestine experienced the The fate of German Jewish refugees literal meaning of the biblical words: in Holland caused special concern. It He hath made me to walk in darkness, was reported from Geneva on May 20 not in light. As a measure of national that all of them had been interned by defense, intensified by the threat of order of Seyss-Inquart, the Nazi com- Italian aggression, daily blackouts be- missioner, and a Zurich dispatch of the tween 9 P.M. and 4 A.M. were ordered same date stated that after 10 days de- throughout the country on June 3. They tention in concentration camps they were had already operated in certain cities to be deported to Nazi Poland. On June since the middle of May. On the same 4, however, word came through that date, plans were completed to evacuate 22,000 refugees had fallen into German coastal cities. Radio broadcasts were hands and been sent back to the Reich forbidden in cafes and other public for trial on charges of evading taxes, places. On June 4, voted indulging in anti-Nazi propaganda, and £76,000 for municipal defense and de- the like. The fate of the refugee settle- cided to construct air raid shelters for ments at Camp Drente in Westerbork 15,000 of the city's 200,000 inhabitants. and Camp Sluis in Zeeland is unknown A special constabulary of 1,000 volun- at this writing. On June 25, Nazi com- teers was also enlisted. Haifa adopted missioner Seyss-Inquart ordered re- precautionary measures on June 9, when patriation of Dutch refugees in France. 73 buildings were listed as official shel- The task of succouring those who ters, and the Jewish Agency's A.R.P. fled the country was undertaken by the advisers toured the country to arrange Red Cross. A steamer carrying exiles first-aid, fire-fighting and other services. from Holland to England was bombed On June 12, the ports of Tel Aviv and by Nazi airplanes on May 19. A were declared, like Haifa, to be Dutch Government project to settle military zones, civilians being barred war refugees in South Africa, with the from residence except by special permis- cooperation of Premier Smuts, was re- sion. Airmail to Great Britain w s ported on June 10. halted on the same date. Amendment of the Colonial Defense Act, on June 21, NORWAY subjected men and resources to the call of the British Government, but it was Information concerning the effect of announced a week later that conscrip- the Nazi occupation upon Jews is ex- tion was not contemplated. PALESTINE 423

Palestine—Continued evoked speculation, owing to his alleged The response of Palestinian Jews to pro-Arab sympathies, but the Jewish the Allied cause was noteworthy. De- press nevertheless welcomed in him a spite the government's rejection, an- distinguished public servant, reputed for nounced on May 10, of the Jewish firmness of purpose. The selection, on Agency's offer to raise a Jewish army, May 15, of G. H. Hall, another critic 1,200 persons joined the Czech Legion of the White Paper, as Under-Secre- tary for the Colonies and Colonial Of- for service in France, three days later. fice spokesman in Commons, was A formal pledge of loyalty and cooper- warmly received, and it was generally ation was given to Chief Secretary felt that a change in present Palestine MacPherson on June 12 by Isaac ben policy might be impending. Former Zvi of the Jewish National Council and Colonial Secretary MacDonald became Rokach, Mayor of Tel Aviv. A Minister of Health. similar declaration on behalf of Haifa Jews was made on June 16. Whole- Parallel with the government reshuf- hearted support of the Allies was also fle came the adoption by the British voiced, on June 18, in a resolution Labor Party, on May 15, of a resolu- adopted by the Mapai (Palestine Jew- tion, submitted by the Poale Zion or- ish Labor Party). ganization to the annual conference, en- dorsing the policy of establishing a The government took steps to rally Jewish homeland in Palestine. all elements of the Yishuv to the Allied cause. On May 7, the heavy prison sen- tences imposed upon leaders of the Ben Immigration Shemen Children's Colony on charges of concealing arms were commuted to The war situation in Europe has seri- fines, and in one case repealed alto- ously affected immigration. Figures for gether, while on May 19, charges the first quarter of the current year, against the editors of Haarez, Davar published on June 16, revealed that only and Hazofeh of publishing without per- 1,911 persons entered during that period mission the Vaad Leumi's protest as against 7,788 for the same period last against the recent land restriction or- year. Of these, 40% were admitted as dinances, were suddenly dropped. Sen- capitalists. The distribution of the im- tence of death by army court, permitted migrants according to countries was as by an order of November 18, 1937, was follows: Great Britain, 129; Germany prohibited on June 16, and on June 19, and Austria, 510; Czechoslovakia, 389; the bulk of the arrested Revisionists Poland, 153; and the balance from were released. Italian Jews, arrested on other countries. The June-July allot- their country's entry into the war, were ment of the total six-month schedule of set at liberty on June 11 through the 9,000 immigration certificates was pub- intervention of the Jewish Agency. lished on May 28. Of the 2,050 cer- tificates issued, 370 were allocated to the Jewish Agency. "Illegal" entries Cabinet Changes were to be deducted from the total. Several leading critics of the White On May 31, an official Zionist re- Paper and the MacDonald Palestine port stated that there were no grounds policy were included, on May 14, in the for the allegation that immigrants had reconstructed British Cabinet. The ap- been deported en masse. Careful inves- pointments of L. S. Amery, Herbert tigation showed that only a few Hun- Morrison and Alfred Duff-Cooper, all garian Jews in a party which had at- friends of the Zionist movement, were tempted "illegal" entry had been greeted in Jewish circles, which recalled repatriated. The government decided on also that the new Premier, Winston S. May 1 to deprive Eri Jabotinsky, ring- Churchill, was an opponent of the leader of the "illegal" immigration White Paper. The nomination of Lord movement, of Palestinian citizenship. A Lloyd as Minister for the Colonies plea on his behalf was entered in Com- 424 CHRONICLES

Palestine—Continued. » was that of the historic site of the an- mons by Josiah Wedgwood, M.P., on cient Jewish academy at Yavneh, on June 26. which a Talmudic college is to be Population figures, to the end,of 1939, erected out of funds bequeathed by Sol- omon Götz, a refugee from the Bol- were published in the Bulletin of Sta- shevist revolution who died on the way tistics on May 3. Residents in Palestine to the Holy Land. An irrigation scheme were given as 1,501,698. Of these, 927,- for new colonies at an estimated cost of 439 were Moslems, 445,150 Jews, 116,- £53,000 was approved by the Jewish 959 Christians, and 12,150 belonged to Agency on June 5. other faiths. Figures released on June 9 showed that refugee immigrants to Personalities Palestine during April and May num- bered 300. On June 22, it was revealed A Jewish mayor was elected at Haifa that a new overland route had been de- on May 9 in the person of Sabbetai vised to circumvent the impossibility of Levi. On May 31, Professor Leon transit through war zones. Immigrants Roth, Ahad Haam Professor of Phil- were being conducted from Trieste, osophy, was elected rector of the He- Italy, through Yugoslavia, Greece, Tur- brew University for a period of two key and Syria. years. Professor Roth is the brother of Dr. Cecil Roth, the Jewish historian. Economic Conditions The death was reported, on June 20, of Zalman Levontin, 84, veteran Zionist, A Department of Commerce report who in 1901 was entrusted by Theodor issued on May 23 revealed that U. S. Herzl with the formation of the Jew- exports to Palestine had more than ish Colonial Trust, the first financial doubled in 1939. As against a gross organization of the Zionist movement. value of $3,169,000 in 1938, they amounted during the past year to $7,646,000. Imports also showed an in- POLAND crease, totalling $639,000 in 1939 as GERMAN AREA against $555,000 in the previous twelve months. Similar improvement in trade Persecution of Jews, aiming both at with was reported on June their dispossession and their humilia- 10. The value of exports for 1939 tion, continued with increasing savagery. amounted to 2,742,000 Swiss francs, as A three-day pogrom during Easter against 1,944,000 in 1938. Especially week, resulting in 10 casualties, was. reported from Krakow on May 21. A marked was the raising of the potash week later, news was received that 430 export in 1939 to 175,253 tons, repre- Jewish prisoners-of-war, part of a con- senting an increase of 107,097 tons over tingent being transported to the "res- the 1938 figures. ervation" at Lublin, Lubartow and Colonization Chelm, had been shot out of hand and their bodies thrown into ditches. At- Jewish National Fund investments in tempts at starvation of Jewish com- Palestine were stated on June 30 to munities were reported by the Morning have reached the gross.figure of £5,200,- Journal (N. Y.) of May 13, which re- 000. Of this amount, £4,720,000 was vealed that flour may no longer be sold spent on land, irrigation, afforestation, to Jews, and that in the towns of etc., and £235,000 on settlement ex- Pabianice and Zgierz, purchase of all penses. New acquisitions during the foodstuffs had been forbidden to them. period under review included a tract of Dispatches from Warsaw dated May 2,800 dunams between Emek Hefer and 26 related that bread had become ex- Hederah, reported June 4, and land for ceedingly scarce in that city, and that a 250-family settlement near Beisan, the typhus epidemic had claimed some reported June 12. An especially interest- 200-300 more victims. Some relief in the ing purchase, announced on May 26, food situation, however, was afforded POLAND 425

German Area—Continued Frank upon Jewish leaders in Warsaw, by an agreement, announced on June 7, Krakow and Sosnowice that they sign a between HI AS and the Nazi authori- testimony to their good treatment was ties, by which parcels of kosher food, rejected, it was learned June 5. In the sent from Riga on the instructions of second of these cities, Dr. Marek Biber- the New York office, would be admitted stein, teacher of Jewish religion at a into the country. local school, was appointed Oberjude ("Head Jew") by the Nazi authorities, Expulsions with Dr. William Goldblatt as deputy. Mass expulsions of Jews, reported May 24, took place at Nowy-Radomsk, SOVIET AREA involving 2,000 persons, and at Tuczyn, Stern measures against anti-Semitism where 150 Jewish families were sent to have been taken by the authorities in Lublin. Similar measures against the Soviet Poland, and Jewish enterprises Jews of Sosnowice, Bedzin and Da- have received encouragement. It was browa were averted, according to mes- reported on May 29 that a band of sages of June 3, by payment of one Ukrainians guilty of terrorizing Jews in million zlotys. Congestion also added to the Tarnopol district had been arrested the plight of Jewish communities. On and executed. Dispatches of the same June 5, it was announced that 15,000 date also related that many poor Jews Jews from Holland and Belgium were had been awarded 2-3 acre farms, with to be removed to Lublin, and the fol- horses and cattle, in the redistribution lowing day the crowded ghetto of Lodz of landed property. According to a (renamed Litzmannstadt) was reported statement in Pravda of June 11, some to have been shut off from the outside 36 Jewish hospitals have been opened in world. Galicia, staffed by 740 Jewish physi- Orders and Decrees cians. On the other hand, Jews suffered The economic privation of the Jews from the intensified Soviet drive against was increased by an order of May 15 religion. According to the Polish Infor- forbidding them to withdraw more than mation Center of New York, all 500 zlotys from post office accounts. churches and synagogues have been Bank accounts had previously been closed down, and religious worship is blocked. Measures designed purely at clandestine. The Great Synagogue in humiliation were represented by the Lwow was reported, on May 24, to order, reported on May 1, forbidding have been closed down for failure to Jews to travel in inter-city buses, and pay a tax of 100,000 roubles imposed by the regulation compelling Jews of on it. Tomaszow to wear caps, and not hats. Other such measures were the burning Jews were also victimized by meas- of all Jewish Bibles in court-houses, ures against capitalists and against per- sons believed to be out of sympathy reported June 24, and the exclusion of with the political philosophy of the Jews from all parks and market-places. Soviet regime. Messages from Paris A decree issued on May 30 ordered all dated May 6 related that depredations manufactured goods handed over by of Jewish property had taken place in Lodz Jews in exchange for food to be Lwow, and that 15,000 Jews had been disinfected, and the following day, Jew- moved from that city to the interior of ish libraries and bookstores were closed Russia, each being permitted to carry in Warsaw. Jews throughout German- with him only 100 kilograms of bag- occupied Poland were permitted only gage, while on June 3, it was reported to pursue the old clothes trade. In that by the official radio that 3,000 Jews case, they were exempted from wearing and Ukrainians resident in Lwow had the yellow badge. been exiled to Siberia on charges of A demand by Nazi Commissioner anti-Communist activity. Some 45 426 CHRONICLES

Soviet Area—Continued efforts were made by the American Le- Bundists were arrested previously in gation ten days later to obtain permis- Western Ukraine and Byelorussia, ac- sion from the Salazar government for cording to the Jewish Chronicle (Lon- the HIAS agency to operate henceforth don) of May 31. Confirmation was re- from Lisbon. The latter city became, ceived on May 20 of the 7-year indeed, a gathering place of refugees. imprisonment of Dr. Emil Sommerstein, Joseph J. Schwartz and Morris Troper Jewish leader and Sejm deputy, on un- of the J.D.C. were reported to have ar- known charges. rived at the end of the month. Others It was remarked by the Forward who reached this refuge were Baron (N. Y.) on June 11 that none of the to aurice de Rothschild and Rabbi delegates recently elected to the Su- Chaim Kruger of Brussels. preme Court of the U.S.S.R. from RUMANIA West Ukraine and White Russia were Jews. On May 31, the U. S. Embassy Rumania's alignment with the Axis in Moscow was reported to have inter- powers in mid-June resulted in a re- vened with the authorities for the re- versal to the anti-Jewish policy of the lease of Chief Rabbi Moses Schorr, short-lived Goga administration and an ecclesiastical head of Warsaw Jews increase in the influence of the reaction- and prominent Jewish scholar, detained ary Iron Guard. Although the volte in Lwow. Professor Schorr was face took place suddenly, evidence of awarded the degree of Doctor of He- growing anti-Semitic tendencies were brew Letters honoris causa at the com- not lacking in the preceding weeks. On mencement ceremonies of the Jewish May 21, when general mobilization was Institute of Religion, New York. ordered, Jewish reserve officers were The death was reported at Bialystok, reported to have been excluded from on May 14, of A. S.. Herschberg, 81, active commissions, and Jewish univer- veteran Zionist, scholar, and Hebrew sity graduates and others were said, on and Yiddish author. the same date, to have been barred from examination for the officers' re- POLAND-IN-EXILE serve. This followed the elimination of Jewish lawyers from the courts at Denial of a plan for large-scale emi- Jassy, despite the fact that the question gration of Jews from Poland after its of their eligibility had previously been restoration was made, on May 7, by decided in their favor. Polish Ambassador to the U. S. Count The formation by King Carol of a Potocki, following protests by the single totalitarian party, the Party of American Jewish Congress. Similar the Nation, on June 21, gave the first sentiments, envisaging future coopera- positive forebodings of official anti- tion between Poles and Jews, were ex- Semitic policy. On June 23, it was de- pressed on May 9 by Minister of Labor clared that non-members of the party Jan Stanczyk, speaking in Paris, while would not be permitted to hold public on June 9, Michael Kwapiszewski, offices, act as executives in commerce First Counsellor of the Polish Em- and industry, or pursue the liberal pro- bassy in the U. S., declared that "in the fessions. Jewish fears that this measure new Poland there will be no place for was but a preliminary to the exclusion anti-Semitism." of Jews from economic and civic life PORTUGAL were confirmed two days later, when they were definitely barred from join- Following the collapse of France, the ing. Panic broke out on June 27 with eyes of refugees turned anxiously to the realization that calamity thus Portugal. On June 17, however, the awaited some 800,000 people, and oh doors of that country were shut sum- that day the bourse slumped seriously. marily upon the exiles. Nevertheless, The cession to Russia of Bessarabia OTHER COUNTRIES 427

Rumania—Continued SPAIN and Northern Bukovina on the same day added further to Jewish apprehen- Graphic details of anti-Jewish perse- sion and alarm. There are 250,000 Jews cution in the new Spain were contained in the former province, and 50,000 in in interviews with returning travellers, the latter. Many, including a large it was reported on May 7. All forms of number of middle-class businessmen, fled Jewish worship and religious practice on June 30 to Bucharest, where Chief have been proscribed. Jewish marriage, Rabbi Alexander Safran and Dr. Wil- circumcision and burial are forbidden. liam Fildermann, president of the The synagogue at Barcelona has been Union of Rumanian Jews, gave assur- closed, and the Jewish cemetery handed ances to the government of Jewish over to Catholic use. Jews are compelled loyalty in Rumania's crisis. Despite to inter their dead in the Protestant these protestations, however, anti-Jew- graveyard. Jewish children attending ish rioting broke out in many cities, and state schools are required to attend an extremely perilous situation ensued. Catholic instruction or to go without education altogether. As a pendant to Rumania's political turn-about was this news came the announcement, on an even greater shock to her Jewish June 17, that the government of Gen- population in view of prospects, held eral Franco had barred entry to Spain to out early in May, of an improvement Jewish refugees from France, and that in its situation. On May 21, Chief the native press had inaugurated an Rabbi Safran was informed by the new anti-Semitic campaign of great viru- Minister of Religions, Ciobanu, that lence. On the other hand, it must be the government was about to regulate recorded that on June 25 a trainload of the position of the Jewish community 600 Polish Jewish fugitives from France in a beneficial manner. It was believed were admitted into the country. that this hinted at plans to grant the Jewish community parity with other U. S. S. R. denominations, and thus increase its annual subsidy by the treasury from one Despite reports received on May 5 million to eighty million lei, in propor- of an intensified drive against religion, tion to its number. official Soviet quarters made a point of expressing their disapproval of anti- Refugees Semitism.Julius Sir eiche -Stürmer and other-Nazi'papers of-girnitäTTtend- All Czech and Polish refugees were ency were banned from the TTnjpn, ar- ordered interned on May 19, but ten cording to dispatcEes ol May 26, and on days later it was made clear that Poles (Red Star), with a positive destination would not be organ™pf™TRe Red Army, condemned imprisoned. On June 29, an agreement anti-Semitism and singled out Jewish was announced between the Vatican and soldiers for especial praise. Contrary to the Rumanian Government providing previous reports, General Gregory Stern for the repatriation of Polish Jewish was appointed Colonel General of the exiles, but this report was later denied. Soviet forces on June 6. The dispatch of food parcels to Poland was forbidden on May 15, but a relief OTHER COUNTRIES ship, carrying provisions sent by organ- izations in the U. S., reached Constanta Lithuanian Jewish leaders, on June on June 23. 20, reported an improvement in the sit- uation of the country's Jews, following Personalities the new political alignment with Soviet Russia. On June 5, it was reported that Isidor L. Sternbach, president of the Polish Jewish soldiers of Lithuanian Jewish community of Bucharest, died birth, captured by the Nazis, were to at the age of 60 on April 25. be repatriated. It was disclosed on May 428 CHRONICLES

Other Countries—Continued describable. The American Red Cross 21 that Leib Holenderski, 55, Poale did magnificent work all along the Zion leader in Lithuania, had died in route. It was reported on June 17 that the Dachau concentration camp. Dr. the organization had allocated $4,000,- L. Kogan, world-famous Jewish lung 000 for relief in France. On June 26, specialist, was appointed Minister of Dr. Edgar Kahn, noted brain surgeon Health in the new cabinet created on of Ann Arbor University, Michigan, June 18, after the Russian occupation. flew to Paris to give assistance. From Switzerland came the news on It was also announced on June 12 by May 9 that labor camps had been set Norman H. Davis, president of the up for German emigres whose further American Red Cross, that the sending movements were now blocked by the of relief supplies to Poland had now war situation. In 1939, there were said been halted, owing to the impossibility to be some 1,840 emigres in the country. of shipping through the Mediterranean. On May 12, a large number of the in- Nevertheless, the organization would terned offered themselves for enlistment continue to assist Polish refugees in in the Allied forces. other countries. On June 17, the Red Cross announced that $795,951 had In Luxembourg, according to Paris been spent in Poland. Five days earlier, dispatches of May 31, all Jews had President Roosevelt appealed to Con- been listed by the Nazis, prior to the gress for $50,000,000 towards European invasion, and a great deal of Jewish relief. property was subsequently looted. The Forward (N. Y.) reported, on Plans for the settlement of refugees in the Dominican Republic encountered June 16, that 12,000 Jews were affected a setback by the refusal of the Italian by the Spanish seizure of Tangier, Government to permit embarkation of while messages from Tripoli revealed some 500 persons scheduled to sail from that the Jewish quarter had been Genoa on the S.S. Neptunia on May 24. bombed by Italian airplanes on June 25, On May 9, however, the first party of with about 30 casualties. Paris dis- settlers, numbering 36 adults and a patches of May 28 stated that alien 15-month-old baby, reached Sosua, and physicians in Algeria were being per- on June 18, General Trujillo an- mitted to practice during the war. nounced that a further 1,000 emigres From Cairo came the news, on June from England and France would be ad- 17, that Egypt's 5,000 Italian Jews had mitted. Complaints by natives of Ciudad been exempted from internment on their Trujillo led to the barring of all "tran- country's entry into the war. An earlier sient" immigrants, by a decision of the report of June 5 announced, however, Dominican Congress on June 13. that 1,000 aliens, whose residence per- It was announced on May 22 that the mits were not in order, had been given World Zionist Organization was seeking the option of leaving the country within to establish headquarters at Lisbon, but 14 days or being interned. later advices report that the Portuguese Government has refused the necessary INTERNATIONAL permission. On June 28, it was an- nounced in New York that the central The flight of refugees from Paris be- offices of the World Jewish Congress fore the city's fall on June 12 is in- were to be transferred to London.

The Record of Events is based on the reports of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, the Palcor News Agency, the Jewish and general press of the United States, and a number of foreign countries, as well as private information. Foreign news dispatches are subject to censorship in the country of origin.