German Reversals Lead to Mild Relaxation of Anti-jewish Measures in the Balkans

The reversals being suffered by the German Army on all fronts are resulting in minor improvements in the position of the Jews in the satellite countries, where confidence in Germany is rapidly diminishing.

In Bulgaria the government-controlled radio stations today announced that indigent Jews are henceforth entitled to free medical treatment in state and municipal hospitals providing they can show so-called poverty certificates.

In Rumania, the War Ministry issued an order permitting Jews in labor service who formerly served as officers in the Rumanian Army, to wear uniforms with the insignia of their ranks. They must, however, display a metal yellow star. The same “privilege” has been granted to Jewish doctors, engineers and architects doing labor service.

In Slovakia, Jewish children who for two years have been excluded from the public schools, are now being readmitted to municipal elementary and secondary schools, according to a report published in the Slovakian pro-Nazi newspaper Gardista reaching here today. The paper publishes letters from its readers protesting the re-admission of Jewish children to educational institutions.

On the other hand, Rumanian newspapers reaching here today report that the government has decided to demolish confiscated Jewish houses in need of repair “because they constitute a burden for the authorities.” The anti-Semitic newspaper Porunca Vremil has started to publish lists of Jewish merchants in Rumania who allegedly evaded transferring their establishments to “ethnical Rumanians.”