Mlay, SepTehZer Tg, 1#44
1,200 Greek Jews Executed
By Nazis at Majdanek Camp
Survivors Report They Were Beaten to Death; Only- Few
of Million Exterminated by Gas Are Identified;;"
Retreating Nazis Wreaking, Vengeance on Jews
LUBLIN, (JTA)—The mystery surrounding the fate of sev-
eral thousand Jews deported from Athens by the Germans last year
has been solved partially with the disclosure here that 1,200 of the
deportees were executed at the Majdanek camp. It is likely that
many others also were murdered.
The names of most of the 1,000,000 Jews exterminated at the
Majdanek Gas Chambers and other camps probably never will be
known, since it has been definitely ascertained that the Germans .
kept no list of their victims. 'Lists were kept only of non-Jews.
A few score names are available from the pitiful possessions
of the dead Jews found piled up in Majdanek storehouses awaiting
shipment to Germany. From these, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
correspondent in a brief examination was able to obtain the names
of 20 to 30 Jews from Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia.
Survivors report that the Greek Jews were beaten to death
Over a period of several weeks.
I
Germans Massacring Jews in Areas' Menaced by Allied Armies
,ZURICH, (JTA)—Beset on all sides by Allied armies which are
liberating large sections of Nazi-occupied territory, the Germans in
the parts of Europe menaced by the Allied advances are wreaking a
terrible vengeance on Jews who still remain in their power, it is
indicated in reports reaching here.
The German radio announced that many Jews have been
killed during violent "demonstrations" in the fascist-held provinces
of Romania. Asserting that the Jews there went into hiding after
"Michael's betrayal," the Nazi broadcaster said that Horia Sima,
Romanian anti-Semitic leader, has proclaimed "a merciless fight
against Bolshevik traitors and Jews."
' German newspapers reaching here- confirm the reports that Jews
are participating in the battle in the streets of Warsaw. They...also
charge that Jews are helping the advanced units of the Russian
Army in Romania.
Chief Rabbi. Herzog Flies to Cairo Conference
JERUSALEM, (JTA)—Chief Rabbi Isaac Herzog has left for
Cairo by plane to meet "a prominent non-Jewish 'figure" who ar-
rived in Egypt from liberated Europe and immediately .communi-
; e
- ated with Dr. Herzog, it was learned here. The identity of the
person or the reason for his wishing to see the chief rabbi could
not be ascertained.
Page Three
THE JEWISH NEWS
Weekly Review of the News of the World
(Compiled From Cables of Independent Jewish Press Service)
AMERICA
OVERSEAS
Gen. Pierre Koenig, commander of the
French Forces of the Interior, is not Jewish,
it has been ascertained in French circles in
London. Reports that he was Jewish apparently
originated because of his Jewish (or German)
sounding name and his itromise to assist Paris
Jewry in its reorganization of the Kehillah,
Jewish Community Council.
Nazi war criminals who manage to "slip
through" the Swedish frontiers will be re-
turned to their dwn countries for justice,
Gustav Moeller, Swedish Minister of Social
Affairs, declared.
The restoration by King Michael of the
liberal constitution abolished in 1938 by his
father, the former King Carol IT , will indirect-
ly but automatically bring about abolition oi
racial laws passed in Romania during the
partnership with Nazi Germany, observers in
Bucharest stated.
Justin Godar, chairman of the pie-war Pro
Palestine Committee in Paris, has been ap-
pointed acting mayor of Lyons, France, French
circles in London reveal.
The radio in liberated Belgium paid tribute
to the Jewish partisans for their contribution
to the country's liberation. It also praised Bel-
gians for aiding the escape of Jews.
The Belgian radio has announced that all-
anti-Jewish legislation has been abolished and
equality to the Jews has been restored in all
liberated areas of the country.
Exhorting his congregation to pray to God
to send to the German people "disasters . . .
more terrible than the ten plagues of Egypt,"
a clergyman preaching a Sunday sermon in a
Paris church said that "what remains to be
done pow is to kill every German."
Cases of Jewish women in France being re-
jected for volunteer jobs in the health service
because they were Jewish, are reported by the
Associated Press quoting a Paris newspaper.
Major Morris Kaplan, a Denver physician,
commanding officer of an air evacuation unit
of the Air Transport Command high in the
Himalayas, led a party for three days over
tortuous terrain to rescue Second Lt. Robert
Whesselhoeft Jr., who was stricken with in.
fantile paralysis in a remote mountainous re-
gion of western China, 1,000 miles from Cal-
cutta, where the nearest "iron lung" was
available.
-
PALESTINE
_el
Palestine's 'income tax yield for the
year ending March 31, 1944, totalled $8,400,000,
it was revealed in Tel Aviv by J. V. Shaw,
Officer Administering the government in the
absence of a High Commissioner.
Police completely cordoned off Petach Tik-
vah in the course of an arms search which
lasted for. several hours. Arrests were made of
several persons who were believed to have
been accomplices in the recent acts of terror
and in the attempt on the life of the former
High Commissioner, Sir Harold MacMichael,
who left Palestine last week.
Major D. Haimovitz, officer commanding a
Palestinian Artisan - Works Company, Royal
Engineers, has been mentioned in dispatches
for gallant and distinguished services in the
Middle East. This is considered to be an
honorary mention of the entire Works Com-
pany, which has been recruited by the Solel
Boneh, construction co-operative of the Hista-
druth, Jewish Palestine -Federation of Labor.
See Also Page 70
For a Happy New Year
Germany Rejects Pleas to Let Hungarian Jews Seek Haven
STOCKHOLM, (JTA)—Swedish efforts to obtain transit visas
through Germany for Hungarian Jews who have been offered haven
in Sweden have failed, it is reported here. The newspaper Svenska
Morgenbladet said that interventions by Swedish authorities with
Berlin have been "without result."
In an interview with the Dagens Nyheter, Swedish Chief
Rabbi Ehrenpreis, who was formerly chief - rabbi of Sofia, the cap-
, ital of Bulgaria, hailed the Bulgarian Government's abrogation of
the anti-Jewish laws as "the first breach in the wall of barbarism
erected by Hitler."
Hirschmann Ready for Trip
To Bulgaria to Assist Jews
War Refugee Board Representative in Turkey Prepared
to Leave to Check on Whether All Anti-Jewish
Laws Have Been Removed; Awaits Armistice
CAIRO, (JTA)—Ira A. Hirschmann, U. S. War Refugee Board
representative in Turkey, is preparing to leave for Bulgaria to
check on whether all anti-Jewish restrictions have been removed,
it was learned here this week.
Mr. Hirschmann is waiting only for an-armistice to be signed
here between the Bulgarian government and the Allies. It is
known that one clause of the armistice terms commits the Bul-
garian government to grant equal rights to all citizens. It is to
insure that this clause will be carried out that the WRB repre-
sentative will go to Sofia. The Bulgarians have already issued
decrees abrogating the anti-Jewish laws and restoring the fran-
chise to all citizens.
The clause barring racial or religious discrimination is felt
to be of utmost importance, since it will set a precedent for other
armistice terms, especially with Hungary and Romania.
Relief Worker Arrives in France to Aid Refugees
.
GRENOBLE, France, (JTA)—Noel Haviland Field, formerly
director of the Marseilles office of the Unitarian Service Com-
mittee, arrived here this week enroute to Marseilles from Geneva
to investigate the situation of Jewish and other refugees who are
not French citizens, in an effort to re-establish relief activities
for them:-
Mr. Field, who will be the first civilian refugee relief worker
returning to Southern France, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency
that the Maquis, the French partisans, brought him here from the
Swiss frontier through their • uhderground railroad. The passage
through provinces still held by the Germans was uneventful, he
stated.
Anti-Jewish Laws Reported Abolished in Romania
NEW YORK, (JTA)—The belief . that anti-Jewish laws in
Romania have been abolished by the newly-formed government
which has joined the Allies and declared war against Germany
was expre s' ed here by Charles A. Davila, former Romanian Min-
ister to the United States and honorary president of the Romanian-
American Alliance for Democracy
Mr. Davila was certain that an announcement to this effect
will be made shortly over th'e Bucharest radio.
Today's Purchase of War Bonds
Is Your Best Assurance of
Tomorrow's Happiness
The War-Bonds you are buying ar - e the Blue Prints of Peace .
. . . from which to build a better/life after the Victory is
won . . . for yourself, your family and for all of us, both
here in America and the world over. This War Bond
Message is our New Year's Greetings to you.
Anti-Jewish Measurei Intensified in Hungary
ZURICH, (JTA)—Panic reigns once again among the Jews
of Hungary as a result of renewed magE-deportations and in-
creased anti-Jewish measures, which had been eased for a few
weeks as a result of protests voiced by the United States and Eng-
land, the Swiss press reports.
The Budapest correspondent of the Swiss Telegraphic Agency
writes that there is ground to fear "that Hungary will again take
up the Jewish problem energetically and will resume anti-Jewish
persecutions." The correspondent says that Hungarian extremists
"supported by the Gestapo and Nazi elite guards" are pressing
the Hungarian government to rescind relaxations of the anti-
Jewish measures and are especially determined to make Hungary
"judenrien" by deporting all Jews to German extermination camps.
The names of the 320 Hungarian Jews who were permitted
recently to leave Hungary for Switzerland and who are now in
Basle was made public here. They include Dr. Adolph Deutsch,
vice-president of the Budapest Orthodox Community; a rabbi of
Cluj, the capital of Transylvania; and a number of industrialists,
businessmen and intellectuals.
WASHINGTON BLVD. AT GRAND RIVER