Shouting “Down with Hitler!” a first group of 600 Jewish refugees from Germany and Austria, garbed in full military uniform, embarked Friday from a French port for Algiers as Foreign Legion volunteers to receive military training as a preliminary to joining French forces on the front. Thousands more of the refugees who have volunteered for Foreign Legion service expect to sail for training in Algiers within the next few weeks.
Simultaneously, 300 Czechoslovak Jews reached France from Palestine to join the Czech Legion here.
Among those who embarked for Algiers and among those arriving here from Palestine were many physicians, lawyers and other intellectuals who emigrated from Germany. Some of the latter were trained officers in the Czech Army, while others wore a uniform for the first time in their lives.
The group which left for Algiers obtained their release from alien internment centers by volunteering for Foreign Legion service. They all looked cheerful when they appeared in headquarters of the Jewish Refugee Committee to bid farewell to committee officials and to thank them for the committee’s assistance while in France. French evening newspapers voiced praise of the refugee volunteers.
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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.
