More than 300 Jewish refugees from Poland who were permitted by the Soviet authorities to proceed in transit from Lithuania to Japan are now stranded in the Soviet harbor city Vladivostok, it is reported here today.
Despite the fact that all of the refugees have Japanese transit visas, the Japanese authorities refuse to admit them into Japan since they possess no visas for countries of final destination. The Japanese Government is reluctant to admit any more refugees into the country, even in transit, claiming that some 2,000 Polish-Jewish refugees are now congregated in Kobe.
The refugees stranded in Vladivostok are held in trains and are not permitted by the Soviet authorities to visit the city. They lack food and have no funds to buy any. They also lack fare to return to Kaunas, from where they arrived. Should the Japanese authorities not revoke the order barring their admission into Japan, the refugees will be sent by the Soviet officials to remote parts of Siberia, where thousands of Polish citizens have been sent for refusing to accept Soviet citizenship in the Soviet occupied Poland.
Captains of Japanese steamers sailing from Vladivostok declare they have been instructed to examine the vises of passengers when embarking. Hitherto the control of the visas was carried out by the Japanese only when the steamers from Vladivostok reached the Japanese harbor of Tsuruga.
Representatives of the Joint Distribution Committee and of the HIAS-ICA Emigration Association who have reached Kobe and are making an effort to contact the stranded refugees in Vladivostok and render them any aid possible.
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