Plight of Jews in Paris Described: Urgent Relief Needed

The unhappy plight of the Jewish population in Paris under Nazi occupation is described in a report reaching Jewish organizations here today emphasizing the desperate need for urgent relief for tens of thousands of Jews there.

The report states that practically all Jews in Paris have lost their means of livelihood under the new anti-Jewish regulations prohibiting Jews from contact with non-Jews in commercial life. In addition to employees and small traders affected by these regulations, Jews of liberal professions and those engaged in intellectual work have also lost their means of livelihood. “The families of about 5,000 Jews who were sent during the month of June to isolation camps are especially in great need”, the report declares.

The offices of Jewish relief institutions in Paris are besieged with people appealing for aid, the report says, but collections of relief funds by private organizations are forbidden under sharp penalties. The situation of the small number of wealthy Jews is also no longer such as to permit them to make contributions on the same scale as before the Nazi occupation. The relief institutions are thus compelled to considerably reduce their relief activities rather than increase them. The only hope of Paris Jewry lies in aid that may come from Jewish organizations abroad, the report states.

Another report from Paris discloses that following a visit of inspection to camps where Jews are held made by M. Danaker, Nazi officer in charge of Jewish affairs, conditions in the camps have improved insofar as food and sanitary conditions are concerned. Persons under 18 years of age and over 55, as well as sick internees and Jews who are holders of French military decorations, were released from the camps. A representative of a Paris social aid institution is admitted to the camps once a week and permanent liaison has been established between the internees and their relatives through the French Red Cross.