While lacking specific information on reports from Kaunas that between 3,000 and 5,000 refugees may be returned to German Poland at the behest of the Nazi Government, the Lithuanian Legation said today that conditions of the refugees in his homeland had become distressing.
(A Kaunas dispatch to the J.T.A. yesterday said a German commission had arrived in the Lithuanian capital to negotiate repatriation of 3,000 to 5,000 refugees and interned Poles.)
Lack of funds for refugee care was blamed largely for the decision to cut down as much as possible the refugee population of Lithuania.
“It might be better,” said Minister Zadeikis, “that the refugees be returned to their homeland, even to face hardships, than to live in the distressing economic circumstances they now must face in Lithuania.”
While the minister’s statements indicated that Lithuania is engaging upon a general program to reduce the number of refugees within its borders, he would make no formal declaration of the new policy.
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.
