Nazis Punish Jews in Poland, Lithuania on Pretext They Aided Soviet Forces

Mass arrests of Jews in Nazi-conquered parts of Lithuania and stricter Nazi measures over the Jews in the ghettos of Warsaw and Lublin are reported here today as result of the Nazi-Soviet war, which, for the second time since the outbreak of the war, has brought death and destruction to sections of Poland and Lithuania thickly populated with Jews.

The Jews in Lithuania, where the Nazis have occupied all the roads leading to the Latvian frontier, are being charged by the Nazi-controlled Kaunas radio with sniping at German soldiers. To support these charges, the German Ministry of Propaganda has ordered Lithuanian newspapers to publish photos of ruined buildings with captions stating it was from those buildings that Jews allegedly fired on the Nazi "liberators" of Lithuania.

In Warsaw and Lublin, where fierce Soviet air attacks took place last night, the Jews are accused by the Nazis of signaling to the Soviet flyers and violating blackout regulations. An order issued by the Nazi military authorities forbids any Jew to leave the ghetto, even if previously permitted to do so. The order says the measure is necessary "in order to prevent any contact between Jews and Soviet parachutists."

The Soviet air attacks last night on Lublin and Warsaw found the Jewish population completely unprotected from air raids. No gas masks are obtainable in the ghettos and no air raid shelters have been built there. Several weeks ago the Nazi administration in occupied Poland, anticipating war with Soviet Russia, prepared shelters in Warsaw and other cities for the German population. The Jews in the ghetto, however, were told to take care of themselves. In view of the fact that every available basement in the ghetto is overcrowded with Jewish refugees, there is no possibility of building air raid shelters in any part of the ghetto.

Alfred Rosenberg, notorious Nazi Jew-baiter, who was shifted to the background by Hitler immediately after the Nazi-Soviet pact, today again came to the forefront, delivering a severe anti-Jewish address over the radio, calling Latvia, his native land, to "Free itself from Jewish-Communist domination," while Nazi planes raided Riga, the capital of Latvia, and Libau, its principal port. Rosenberg’s address was echoed on Radio Roma, which said that "we are not fighting Russians, but a bunch of criminals, helped and supported by Jews."

News from Berlin today indicated the Nazis were embarking on stricter measures against Jews also in Old Germany. The reports said that Otto Hirsch, head of the Reichsvereinigung of German Jewry, who has been held under Gestapo arrest for several months without any specific charge, was transferred this week to labor at stone breaking. Similarly, the Gestapo has drafted the entire male staff of the Reichsvereinigung for compulsory work in munition factories, leaving only two of its executives in charge of its work, which has now been greatly curtailed. The two are to report to the Gestapo and to take orders from them with regard to Jewish compulsory labor which is being recruited for Nazi defense work.