Two representatives of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, one of them an American citizen, were passengers on the Estonian steamship Estonia which has been captured by a Nazi warship, it was learned here today. Sixty Polish refugees were also on board the vessel, which was seized off the coast of Sweden.
The American, Moses W. Beckelman, 34, of New York, was reportedly released after the passengers and crew were landed at Memel, Baltic port which was taken over by Germany from Lithuania last Spring.
Isaac Giterman, the other J.D.C. representative, and all the Polish nationals are reported to have been interned at Memel. Giterman, a Polish citizen, formerly was head of the Warsaw office of the J.D.C. He had succeeded in escaping to Wilno after harrowing experiences in the early days of the German bombardment of Warsaw.
Both Giterman and Beckelman were on their way from Wilno to a meeting in Amsterdam. Beckelman, who is unmarried, is a member of the European staff of the J.D.C. and has recently been organizing refugee-relief work in the Wilno district. He has been with the relief agency about nine months.
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