A ninety-nine-year-old Jew is the oldest inhabitant of the internment camps for aliens in unoccupied France, the New York Times reported today from Vichy.
“The oldest internee at present is 99 years old,” the paper stated. “Lying motionless on his iron cot at Recebedou (one of the two camps for persons over 65 years of age and for persons with chronic diseases) this aged Jew, Salomon Levy by name, looked up with interest as photographers swarmed about, snapping his picture from every angle and filming his uncomprehending stare for the movies.
“For him and for several other very aged men here and at Noe, the future is already determined.”
The dispatch also describes the activities of a Jewish internee, Moise Katz, at the Le Vernet camp, in organizing a library for the internees. Katz has gathered about 150 books in different languages which he lends for a few sous to those who can pay, and free to others. With the money from the book rentals, he adds newspapers and magazines to his collection. Katz, according to the dispatch, has been at the camp for sixteen months awaiting an exit permit. He has a Paraguayan visa.
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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.
