(Jewish Telegraphic Agency)
Several cases of Jewish immigrants who arrived from Eastern Europe and were unable to pass a test in the reading and writting of Yiddish have attracted attention here. The immigration regulations for South Africa require the passing of a literacy test for admittance and recognize Yiddish as one of the languages for the test.
The South African Jewish Board of Deputies issued the following statement in connection with these cases.
“Quite a number of Jewish immigrants have of late been prohibited from landing on arrival in Cape Town because of their inability to pass the education test in Yiddish, in accordance with the requirements of the Immigrants Regulation Act, which stipulates that immigrants to the Union must be able to read and write a European language, and includes Yiddish in that category. In view thereof, my board desires that it should be made known as widely as possible, both among relatives and friends of would be immigrants as well as among the latter themselves, that in their own interests they must not on any account come to South Africa unless they are able to read and write Yiddish or any other European language.”
Former Municipal Court Justice William Blau denied reports that he was to speak at a meeting of protest against the delegation which is coming to the United States from Hungary for the unveiling of a statue of Louis Kossuth. Mr. Blau said that he was not only in favor of a welcome for the delegates, but he also was a member of the committee making plans to unveil the statue.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
