Thousands of Jewish children, so young they are unable to give their or their parents names, have been smuggled out of Germany into neutral countries by the Gestapo so that the Reich would have fewer mouths to feed, officers of the Intergovernmental Refugee Committee were informed today.
Some of the children were orphans and others were children of persons imprisoned in concentration camps, according to documentary evidence presented to the committee. The expulsion practice has been so prevalent, it was said, that the Red Cross in neutral countries was forced to form special organizations to care for the children.
The Gestapo’s practice was to place the children aboard trains bound for the Netherlands, Switzerland and Belgium, three or four to each train. Tied around their necks or pinned to their clothing were cards reading: “My name is John Doe. My aunt or uncle will meet me at—–.”When the child arrived at the town named, there was no one to meet him, and the neutral country found itself with another baby on its hands. Efforts to return the children to the Reich were met with: “We don’t know who they are or where they came from. We can’t accept them.”
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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.
