300 Foreign Jews Arrested in Italy in Move to Spur Emigration; Americans Are Watched

Police raids on cafes frequented by Jews were reported today from all the larger Italian towns in connection with the decreed expulsion of foreign Jews by March 12. At the same time, the American Embassy has received reports that a number of American Jews have been interrogated by the police and kept under strict surveillance, also in connection with the expulsion decree. Ambassador William Phillips is taking a personal interest in the cases.

Jews picked up in the raids were taken to police stations and questioned as to when they were leaving the country. If unable to give a definite date they were jailed for several days and upon their release ordered to leave the country within a week or be imprisoned until March 12, when the fate of all Jews unable to emigrate, it was stated, would be settled “in a drastic manner.”

It was reliably learned here that more than 300 foreign Jews were subjected to such treatment in the past few days. Italy’s determination to oust all foreign Jews — their number is put at 15,000 in a total Jewish population of about 58,000 — will be evidenced, it is feared, by an increasing number of such cases as the deadline approaches.

Reports published abroad that all Austrian and German Jewish refugees have been forcibly sent back to the Reich this week are without foundation. The authorities, however, threaten to take such action once the deadline has passed. Among some 8,000 foreign Jews who are unable to comply with the expulsion decree because they cannot find a country to accept them, are 3,000 Austrian and German Jews. Unless some escape is found for them they face forced return to the Reich.

A Jewish delegation is seeking an interview with high officials of the interior ministry for clarification with regard to the fate of those Jews unable to comply with the expulsion order and also to appeal for a six-month extension of the grace period. Meanwhile, the presence of armed police stationed at the entrances of Jewish refugee offices in the larger cities, notably Rome and Milan, is effectively deterring Half-assed foreign Jews from obtaining emigration aid.

The Central Jewish Refugee Committee has started a census of foreign Jews to ascertain the exact number slated for expulsion and their plans for compliance with the decree. With Jewish newspapers banned, the committee has been handicapped in the census and has been forced. to rely on posters calling upon affected Jews to register. Of 3,000 foreign Jews already registered in Milan, only about 700 are able to leave before March 12. The remainder are without sufficient means or have no visas.

SUICIDES INCREASE AMONG JEWS IN ITALY

A wave of suicides has followed in the wake of growing political and economic discriminations against Jews, it was reliably learned by a special J.T.A. correspondent. recent suicides include a number of dismissed Jewish army and navy officers who, after years of distinguished service, were suddenly humiliated and degraded, and Jewish capitalists whose possessions have been virtually expropriated. The suicides are not reported in the Italian press, but their occurrence rapidly becomes common knowledge.

A striking case is that of the 60-year-old internationally known publisher, Angelo Fortunato Formiggini, who bequeathed all his property to the poor and leaped to his death from a tower in his native city of Modena. Clutched in his hand was a copy of a letter to Premier Benito Mussolini praying that his suicide would open 11 Duce’s eyes to the injustice done to Italian Jewry which for generations had contributed their best to Italy.

According to information gathered by foreign embassies here at least 20,000 native Italian Jews have already been deprived of means of Livelihood by the new anti-Semitic laws. It is also estimated that approximately 70 per cent of Italy’s 58,000 Jews will remain without a means of existence when the “Aryanization” of Jewish enterprises has been completed. Since Dec. 4, when decrees ousting Jews from the teaching profession, from State institutions and the armed forces went into effect, 5,000 Milan and 3,000 Rome Jews have been added to the lists of Jewish charities.

The extremist newspaper Regime Fascista charged that Catholic priests were issuing large numbers of antedated baptismal certificates to Italian Jews qualifying them, as members of a non-Jewish faith, for exemption from the new anti-Semitic laws before the Oct. 1, 1938, deadline. The paper said that throughout the 19th century, only 300 Italian Jews had been converted, whereas several thousands had apparently changed their faith in recent months. The newspaper claimed it had proof of false certificates which it was holding for the Osservatore Romano, Vatican organ, “in case that newspaper should want to hurl another challenge at us and force us to prove what we charge.”

In an open reference to Pope Pius XI, Regime Fascista said: “Let us not omit the possibility that At The opportune moment, if, from the heights of a certain throne, instead of speaking of religion, an anti-Fascist policy is continued, we will dot our l’s, reminding those concerned that the use of tricks to evade the laws of the State is an offense, and that offenses lead directly to prison and to hell.”