With March 1, the date when minority guarantees expire, fast approaching, every Jew who could afford transportation has quit the Saar. About 1,500 Jews remain of the 4,000 who lived here before last year’s plebiscite made the district German, and they remain only because they lack the means to leave.
Under the pledge Germany made when it took over the district, Jews were not to be molested for twelve months and were to be permitted to withdraw their capital if they emigrated. As a result, 2,500 Jews left with little delay.
Those remaining are mainly poor artisan and small merchants who cannot afford the price of visas and transportation to other countries. Their nervousness increases daily as the date when all the German anti-Jewish laws go into effect here approaches.
Some may move into Germany, but, for the most part, they have expressed preference to live in the Saar. Most of them were born here.
They view with considerable trepidation the often-made statements of Nazi officials that after March 1 an intensive anti-Jewish drive will get under way. Recently, Herr Buerckel, Nazi Commissioner for the Saar, declared in an address that this district “will become the most Judenrein (free of Jews) section in the entire Reich.”
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