One of the results of the extension of the war into Scandinavia was to close the principal avenue of emigration for some 12,000 Jewish refugees from Poland now domiciled in Lithuania who hoped to settle in Palestine and other overseas countries. Unable to enter Poland or Germany, these refugees had intended to reach Scandinavian ports in order to embark for new homelands or to proceed to French and Rumanian ports of embarkation.
The only route to Palestine is now through Soviet Russia to Odessa and thence to the Rumanian port of Constanza. However, the Soviet Government has allowed very few of the refugees transit across Russian territory.
(Soviet Russia and Lithuania have concluded an agreement whereby refugees may cross Russian soil provided they have a destination, according to a Washington dispatch in JTA News April 10.)
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