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Prague Jewish Leaders Released, but Mass Arrests Go On; Emigration Activities Resumed

March 31, 1939
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All Zionist and other Jewish leaders arrested in Prague since the German invasion have now released with the single exception of Marie Schmolka, head of all refugee work in Prague, it was ascertained today. Mme. Schmolka is expected to be released this week.

The Palestine Office and the Zionist Organization have received official permission to resume their activities and 200 Jews possessing Palestine immigration certificates will be permitted to leave for the Holy Land at an early date. The Palestine Foundation Fund and the Jewish National Fund, Zionist colonization and land-purchasing agencies, are still forbidden to function.

The headquarters of the Jewish Community and the Supreme Council of Czecho-Slovak Jews have been reopened but all Jewish relief organizations, societies and schools continue closed. The official organ of the Jewish Community, Zidovske Spravy, is still not appearing.

Meanwhile, wholesale arrests of Jews by the Gestapo are continuing, but they are usually released after a few days. The head of the Palestine Office, Prof. Solomon Lieben who was among those arrested, has been released by the Gestapo on condition that he leave the country within a fortnight.

Violent anti-Semitic excesses are reported daily from Slovakia. The Jewish inhabit ants of the town of Nitra were reportedly loaded into lorries by the Fascist anti-Semitic Hinka Guards, taken to the countryside, brutally beaten up and helpless in the open fields. Advices from Bratislava declare that Slovakian Jews are being robbed of all their belongings and money by Hlinka hoodlums.

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