Decisions favorably affecting thousands of Polish and German Jews who entered Belgium illegally are expected to be adopted by the Belgian authorities, it was revealed here by Max Gottschalk, leader of Belgian Jewry.
Mr. Gottschalk, who recently arrived here, also disclosed that anti-Semitic propaganda conducted by Nazi agents in Belgiun has ceased. He said the agents were now concentrating more on general pro-German propaganda and their ranks had been strengthened by dozens of Nazi journalists who came from London and Paris after outbreak of the war. Most of the agent are located in Brussels, some of them attached to the German diplomatic staff.
Mr. Gottschalk estimated that there were about 15,000 Jewish refugees from the Reich who were being assisted by Jewish relief organizations in Belgium. He said that Jews were still smuggling themselves, at great risk, from Germany across the closely-goaded Belgian frontier.
Registration of all aliens has been undertaken by the Belgian authorities, Mr. Gottschalk said, as a step toward legal of the status of all who entered the country illegally. All who registered, even those previously ordered to leave the country, will be permitted to remain legally in Belgium until the war is over, Mr. Gottschalk declared. Excluded from this privilege, however, will be those classified as “undesirable aliens,” namely, persons sentenced several times in their own countries or in Belgium, as well as political suspects. These, Mr. Gottschalk stated, will be interned in special concentration camps.
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