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Condition of Baltic Jewry Deteriorating Under Nazi Rule

October 12, 1941
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Condition of the Jews in the Baltic countries has so deteriorated since the Nazi invasion that their situation rivals the conditions in German-held Poland, it is revealed today by usually reliable sources.

Jews of Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia must wear a yellow Mogen David; they are forbidden to walk on the sidewalks and they must proceed in single file. All Jewish enterprises and property have been confiscated and able-bodied males have been mobilized for compulsory labor battalions. Jewish newspapers and schools have been closed down and the radio and the Nazi newspapers constantly harangue against the Jews. Hundreds of Jews have been arrested allegedly for having been “Bolshevik employees.” In Riga, alone, 3,800 have been seized.

The German anti-Jewish propaganda, however, is meeting with no success as far as the non-Jewish population is concerned. The people are horrified by the Nazi excesses committed against the Jews and find ways of expressing their sympathy.

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