The Gestapo, secret political police, announced today a ban “until further notice” on all Jewish meetings, lectures and public gatherings.
As a result of the order, many Jewish conferences scheduled for next week, including a Zionist meetings, have been indefinitely postponed.
At the same time the Gestapo issued a drastic order prohibiting individual Jews or Jewish organizations from entering into direct contact with Gestapo officials.
The order specifies that neither Jews nor representatives of Jewish organizations are to be permitted to appear personally at the Gestapo headquarters to plead for arrested persons or to seek information or permits of any kind.
The edict forbids communication of any kind by Jews with the Gestapo except through the mails. This prohibition also applies to Jewish lawyers retained to inquire concerning the fate of arrested persons.
Since the Gestapo officials may or may not answer letters from Jews, the order means that Jewish families may remain long ignorant of the whereabouts or fate of arrested relatives.
Informed quarters see the sweeping decree as foreshadowing a wave of Jewish arrests.
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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.
