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Soviet Planes Drop Polish, Yiddish Leaflets Calling for Resistance to Nazis

July 3, 1941
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Soviet planes flying over cities in Nazi-held Poland are showering tons of leaflets in Polish and in Yiddish calling the population “not to lose courage and to await patiently the day of liberation from the Nazis, which is due soon,” it was reported here today.

At the same time, the Kaunas radio broadcast an announcement that the Nazi military authorities have appointed Jonas Korla, a Lithuanian lawyer, as city governor, Korla, a member of the party of ex-President Smetona, is said to be a person far from anti-Semitism. He has many Jewish friends. Doubt is however expressed here whether the Nazi administration in Lithuania will permit him to follow his personal inclinations.

In dropping the leaflets the Soviet pilots were reported to have aimed especially at the Jewish and Polish ghettos. The leaflets quoted at length the appeal of General Sikorski, Polish Premier-in-exile, to the Polish people. This was the first time the population of Nazi-occupied Poland received direct quotations from the Premier’s appeal as well as other direct information from the outside world. The Nazi authorities in towns where the leaflets were dropped were unable to prevent the population from reading them since the quantity was so huge that many streets were thickly covered with them.

Stricter regulations have been imposed upon the Jewish ghettos in Warsaw and other cities as result of the Nazi-Soviet war. In many cities Jews and Poles are no longer permitted to mail any letters, to prevent any contact between the local population and the outside world. In Warsaw, Jews are permitted to hold services in three synagogues only, to keep Jews from gathering in large groups.

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