Clashes Reported from Slovakia over Deportation of Jews to Nazi Territory

Serious clashes between the Slovak police and the local non-Jewish population over the deportation of Jews to Nazi-held Eastern territories are reported here today to have taken place last Saturday in Humenne and Michalovce, two Slovakian towns. One policeman was killed in the skirmish in Humenne.

The Slovakian authorities issued a communique in Bratislava stating that military units had to be called out in the two towns “to put down the resistance of Jews there trying to escape deportation.” The official Slovak version, presenting the clashes as a “Jewish fight against mixed forces of policemen and Hlinka Guards,” reports that “after heavy fighting, the military captured and disarmed 32 men who had fought with modern weapons of unknown origin.”

The Bratislava communique does not specify that the 32 persons arrested were Jews. This is interpreted in Czechoslovak circles here as proof that it we the non-Jewish population that fought against the deportation of Jews. People here who are acquainted with the situation in Slovakia are certain that the Jews there could not take up arms to resist deportation, and that the Slovak governor is throwing the blame on the Jews in order to hide the real motives which prompt the local population to revolt against the authorities.

The Jews in Slovakia surrendered 21,889 fur coats, valued at four million kronen, up to March 15, it is reported in the Prague newspaper Lidove Nowiny which reached here today. The paper reveals that most of the fur coats were used by the military administration. Particularly valuable fur pieces estimated to be worth two million kronen were auctioned off and the proceeds turned over to funds for Slovak soldiers.