400 Refugees from Italy Seen Victims of Smuggling Ring; No Expulsions by Rome

The more than 400 Jews from Italy who are now in Nice and Menton and others in the “no-man’s -land” near Vintimille are the victims of a smuggling ring duping foreign Jews in the Italian cities of Milan and Turin.

This was established today when responsible Italian Jewish leaders arrived in Paris and declared that the Italian Government definitely was not deporting anyone under the decree for emigration of post-war Jewish immigrants, but had ordered foreign Jews to apply to local police for prolongation of their stay past the March 12 deadline. The Jewish leaders said the police were accepting the applications and would permit all to remain pending their consideration, with the likelihood that a three-month stay would be granted.

Meanwhile, the Jewish leaders declared, about 5,000 foreign Jews are visiting Jewish relief offices in Rome, Milan and other centers, without molestation, for assistance and information. It is believed that several hundred, fearing expulsion on March 12, fell under the influence of racketeers to whom they promised remuneration for smuggling them to France.

An investigation by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in Nice today established that almost all of the refugees left Italy voluntarily because of the fear of deportation. Some of them were helped by Italian soldiers to cross the frontier. Others were forced across the border at bayonet point when they changed their minds about being smuggled into France.

At the French border town of Vintimille today a local Frenchman argued with frontier guards for admission of 30 Jews detained at the border station and finally won. Small groups of three to five Jews were still arriving at the frontier and were being admitted liberally by French gendarmes, especially when the refugees were women and children.

Meanwhile, the Rome radio station announced that the majority of foreign Jews in Italy had complied with the emigration decree by March 12, while those who remained were being permitted to leave gradually.

At the same time, it was stated, Italian border authorities have been ordered not to discourage Jewish tourist traffic into Italy by asking questions regarding race and religion, while police in Ascona, Trieste and Turin were ordered to remove all insulting anti-Jewish signs from restaurants, cinemas and public places in order not to offend Jewish tourists. It was also stated that Jewish tourists would be permitted to remain in Italy for six months. The present limit is three months.

One puzzling fact is that while the Italian Government is not hindering emigration of Jews to most counties, Jews who declare they are going to the United States are given pass ports by the authorities only with great reluctance.