Spanish Government Refuses Exit Visas to Jewish Refugees of Military Age

The Spanish Government has refused to issue exit visas to Jewish refugees between the ages of eighteen and forty, who are among the 5,000 who have arrived in Spain in recent months from Nazi-controlled countries in the hope of emigrating to overseas lands, it was reported here today following a conference between the office of the Director of the Inter-Governmental Refugee Committee and Dr. Joseph Schwartz, European director of the Joint Distribution Committee who was on a five-day visit to London.

It is understood that Dr. Schwartz stressed the necessity of scouring emigration facilities for the refugees during his conference with committee officials and in discussions with Jewish leaders here. About 3,000 of the refugees, Dr. Schwartz reported, are concentrated in Barcelona while the remainder are in six or seven smaller towns. The JDC, he said, is spending about $65,000 monthly to support them. Partial support for the forty percent of the refugees who are Polish citizens, is being provided by the Polish Government, which, it is reported, has unsuccessfully intervened with the Spanish authorities in an attempt to secure exit visas for those of military age.

A suggestion that the United Nations grant temporary haven in North Africa to those refugees “who have succeeded in escaping from Nazi-held territory at the risk of their lives,” is being advanced by various quarters, it is reported today in the Sunday Observer. The paper states that 20,000 refugees might be sheltered in North Africa until they could be repatriated after the war.