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Brutal Treatment of Italian Jews by Gestapo Described in Milan Report

February 14, 1944
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The brutal treatment of Italian Jews by German guards in Italian concentration camps is described in a report from Milan published in the newspaper Libera Stampa reaching here today.

The report states that the interned Jews are placed at the mercy of a Gestapo captain named Klaus Sonneke, who is in charge of the “Jewish camps.” Prior to being interrogated, the Jewish internees are subjected to terrible physical torture, including hour-long beatings. Their hands are placed in iron presses, and many of them are given a “frozen bath” which usually leads to death. Even children are not spared.

The report confirms that when the Fascist Ministry of Interior issued an order recently for the release from the interment camps of Jewish children under the age of 13 and people over 70 years old, the Gestapo captain tore up the Italian order and speeded the deportation of Jewish children and aged to occupied Poland.

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