The tragedy of the 5,000 Jews in the Nazi-dominated Free City of Danzig has entered a new phase with the decision of the Senate to utilize the Jews as cheap labor for construction of a motor road between Danzig and East Prussia and to intern them with their families in concentration camps.
The former project of shipping all the Jews to unknown destinations seems to have been abandoned after the date for the shipment of the first transport of 1,000 Jews had several times been postponed “for external reasons.” Meanwhile, those who had been marked for evacuation have been completely ruined. Their property has been sold to “Aryans” for a song and the proceeds confiscated to “cover the expenses of emigration.” Their personal luggage has been taken away “for storing pending emigration” and has not been returned.
The 1,000 Jews, forced to give up their residences, have been accommodated since January in the building which formerly housed the Jewish Sports Club, which was requisitioned for the purpose.
Although the Nazis have declared that Danzig will be “Judenrein” (free of Jews) in six months at the latest, it is reported that the Nazis have now decided to intern all Jews, including women and children, to carry out State work, the first project being the construction of the road between Danzig and East Prussia.
While the official reason for the internment is declared to be to force the Jews to emigrate, it is understood that the action is prompted by a desire to convert the Jews into virtual slaves and thus to have cheap labor for the execution of the program which the Danzig Senate and the German authorities have worked out for the year 1939.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
