While many Jews were prevented by Nazi threats from casting their votes in the Saar plebiscite today several hundred Jews moved to the neighboring country of Luxembourg, with the intention of returning to the Saar if the vote returns that district to Germany.
One hundred and fifty Jews today completed preparations to proceed from the Saar to Palestine within the next week.
DEMAND VOTE CARDS
Nazi campaigners were visiting all Jews eligible to cast ballots and tried to induce them not to participate in the vote at all and to yield up their voting cards.
As a reward for not voting, the Jews were promised by the Nazi campaigners that they would not be molested after the reunion of the Saar with the Rhine.
Herr Herrmann Roechling, the industrial king of the Saar and one of the most influential Nazi leaders in Saarbruecken, declared today that 3,000 Germans will be exiled from the Saar immediately after the return of the district to Germany, but the policy towards the Jews in the Saar will be markedly mild.
ONLY ENEMIES EXITED
“Those Germans who will be exiled,” Herr Roechling stated, “are political enemies of the Reich. The mild policy which we intend to pursue with regard to the Jews is of great significance for the entire world.
“About 400 Jews,” the Nazi leader continued, “have already left the Saar. The rest, however, will not be molested. They will be permitted to pursue their callings as professionals and small traders. There is one Jewish judge now in the Saar and we intend to leave him in his office.”
PROTEST LOSS OF CARDS
Numerous Jewish voters in Saarbruecken today lodged protests against the Nazis who forced them to give up their voting cards. The voting started early in the morning, but the official results of the plebiscite will not be made known before Tuesday.
The representative of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency was told here today by Jewish leaders that the majority of the Jews in the Saar will not be able to leave the country, since they have no means to do so. Those of them who are trying to sell out their property cannot find any buyers, since the local population expects that the ma-
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.
