The first step towards confiscation of the property of American Jews in France has been taken by the Nazi authorities in Paris, according to a report published in the New York Post today. The move is directed against American Jews with funds or securities on deposit at American banking houses in occupied France.
Letters from American banking firms in Paris to their clients in America contain a document asking the individuals to report whether they are Jewish and whether they have Jewish grandparents, placing them within the Nazi definition of “Jewish.” These letters, dated from Paris but mailed from unoccupied France, disclose that the demand for information from Americans on their descent is motivated by the fact that German military administration in France has imposed special restrictions on the bank accounts of members of the Jewish faith. It is believed that the Nazis Paris branches of American banking house are now under German administrators since the outbreak of the war between the United States and Germany.
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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.