Harsh treatment of refugees on a transport to Canada is described in the current issue of the Jewish Chronicle on the basis of the account of a returned internee.
Aboard the ship the Jewish refugees were allegedly called “scum of the earth” and “a lousy lot” by the military commanding officer. In the internment camp refugees were not allowed to write regarding release and remigration or to contact refugee organizations and parliamentarians. They were treated as prisoners of war, although 85 per cent of them voted for separation from Nazi sympathizers and 90 per cent refused to give their names to the Swiss Legation, acting for Germany.
The refugees even refused to use letter forms marked “prisoner of war” for fear that they would endanger friends and relatives in Britain and the United States.
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.
