Czech official circles here today reported receipt of information that expulsion of Jews from the Protectorate had been launched last week–before the Feb. 1 deadline for Jewish emigration.
As warning to the Jews that the expulsion would begin in earnest on the first of the month, the Gestapo loaded several hundred Jews on two cattle trains and transported them to an unknown destination, the reports said. These Jews were said to be all of Polish origin.
In preparation for the mass expulsions, all Jews in the Protectorate have been ordered to submit to the Gestapo within 24 hours detailed lists of their belongings, it was reported. Germans were told they could select any Jewish house they wished to move into, and the occupants were evicted on a few hours’ notice from those houses chosen by Germans.
Gestapo orders to the Jews are not published officially nor reported in the press, but are conveyed orally to Jewish communities, which must in turn transmit them verbally to individual Jews, with use of mail and telephone for this purpose prohibited.
Jews wishing to emigrate are finding unusual difficulties placed in their way. Each prospective emigrant must fill out 30 sheets of questions which he receives in a brown folder. Jews have given these folders the soubriquet “Mein Kampf” because of the struggle involved in arranging emigration.
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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.
