THE JEWISH NEWS
A Weekly Review
VOL. 6—NO. 22
2114 Penobscot Bldg.
RA. 7956
of Jewish Events
Detroit 26, Michigan, February 16, 1945
34 ca4Wik. 22 $3.00 Per Year; Single Copy, lOct
1,766 Jews Freed by Gestapo;
Negotiate to Release Others
Report Swiss Emissary Conferring with Himmler
Children, Aged, Unfit
Safe in Switzerland
From Theresienstadt
Brotherhood Leaders:
—Grossman-Knowling Photo
National Brotherhood Week, sponsored by
the National Conference of Christians and
JeWs and its Detroit :Round Table Was observed Feb. 7 at a: luncheon of. Detroit Rotary CIO /
at Hotel Statler. The speakers were Left to right: DR. DAVID D. HENRY, executive
vice,president, Wayne University; Dr. B. BENEDICT GLAZER, Rabbi, Temple Beth El; DR.
EVERETT R. CLINCHY, president, National Conference of Christians and Jews; The REV.:
A. H. POETKER, S.J., executive dean of the University of Detroit; PROF. HOWARD.
MoCLUSKY, professor of educational psychology at the University of Michigan.
By BERT WYLER
GENEVA (JTA)—One of the most fantastic feats of
rescue of Jewish internees from German concentration
camps has been accomplished by a group of 20 orthodox
Swiss Jews who sent Jean M. Musy, a former member
of the Swiss Federal Council, to Gestapo chief Heinrich
Hifhmler in order to negotiate with him concerning the
fate of Jews remaining in Germany.
As a result, a group of 1,200 Jews released from
the concentration camp in Theresienstadt arrived in
Switzerland Feb. 8 from Germany, and 540 more were
due here this week. The release of these internees is
considered a very important achievement.
Addressing a press conference Feb. 9, Swiss Minister
of Justice Eduard von Steiger said that it is hoped that
henceforth regular transports of Jews from Germany
will arrive in Switzerland. All the arrivals, he declared,
will be placed in refugee camps in Switzerland and
will be obliged to leave the country at the earliest
poSsible date.
Half of Group Natives of Holland .
About one-half of the 1,200 Jews from Theresidnstadt
are natives of Holland who were deported by the Get--
mans from Amsterdam and other Dutch cities. There
are also 58 children under the age of 12 in the group.
The remainder are Jews from Germany and Czecho-
slovakia. The 540 Jews who were expected to reach
Switzerland on Feb. 9 are deportees from France. The
refugees from Theresienstadt were given food to last
for the three-day trip from the camp to the Swiss
frontier.
*
The Independent Jewish Press service report from Geneva
regarding this sensational rescue move, reported in a cable
by Dave Jaros, states as follows:
Urge .Bill of Right s:
An International Bill of Rights as part of the
projected World -Organization, which would pro-
vide that member states be "penalized for infractions of the human rights of their citizens",
arid a Jewish Commonwealth in Palestine were urged by SUMNER WELLES, former United
States Under Secretary of State, at a meeting of the New York chapter of the American Jewish
Committee; Left to right: JUDGE N.VING LEHMAN, Chief Justice of the New York State
Court of Appeals, who introduced Mr. Welles; MR. WELLES and JUDGE JOSEPH M. PROS-
KAUER, president of the American Jewish Committee.
Swiss Jewry received with great joy the news that
1,766 Jews—children, aged and physically unfit—were
released from the Theresienstadt ghetto. Of these
1,210 have already reached Switzerland, including 58
children under 12, and persons between 60 and 70 years
of age. Arrivals include 600 Dutch Jews. In the week
of Feb. 10 another 556 arrivals from Theresienstadt
were due here.
It is reported that the release was the resultof negoti-
ations by the International Red Cross, instituted at the
instance of the World Jewish Congress, the Agudath
Israel and the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United
States and Canada. Circles close to the International
Red Cross assured this correspondent that possibilities
exist for obtaining the release of larger numbers if
only Allied Governments insist that the Jewish in-
ternees be granted prisoner-of-war status.
(Other reports make no mention of the International
Red Cross and of the World Jewish Congress—editor)
Your correspondent has sought in vain to obtain an
interview with the arrivals. They are reluctant to
give any information as to the fate of the 35,000 Jews
remaining in Theresienstadt, apparently fearing that
anything they say may jeopardize those still interned
and preclude further releases.
The group of arrivals does not include a side able-
bodied man or woman. The psychological effect of life
under the Germans was most evident when the arrivals,
told of German defeats, shrugged their shoulders in
disbelief.
Lo
4fte‘rm.
ofts
of Passover necessities to
Overseas Passover Relief: • liberated Jewish
communities in
Europe is commencing, as the traditional Feast of Liberation approaches. The Joint Distri-
bUtion Committee is arranging the shipments as part of a regular program of providing food,
drugs and hospital supplies to needy Jews wherever they can be reached. The photograph
on the right shows truckmen starting the supplies on their journey to, liberated Poland and
to Russia via Russian ships — freight- .and duty-free. The photograph on the left shows the
Polish Consul - General in New York, CASIMIR KOSZARSKI, checking bills of lading of
medical supplies which the JDC is shipping to refugees in Russia. The JDC collaborates with
the Polish government-in-exile in these relief efforts.
Arranged by Swiss With Nazi Connections
LONDON (JPS-PalCor)—The arrival in Switzerland
of 1,210 Jews from Theresienstadt is the result of
private negotiations conducted by Monsieur Musy, who
returned 10 years ago from a high _post with the SWiss
Government. He acted in behalf of the Agudath Israel
and the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States
and Canada.
For years Monsieur Musy was closely connected with
extreme rightist parties in Switzerland and was the
frequent target of violent verbal attacks by liberal and
leftist parties. His close personal connections with the
highest German Nazi leaders added to his notoriety.
Since the war he has made frequent visits to Germany,
traveling ola a Swiss diplomatic passport.