A Daily Mail correspondent said today that unconfirmed reports of Jews attacking refugees from Bessarabia were probably being spread by Iron Guardists, Rumanian Fascist terrorists, in the hope of stirring up pogroms “as a useful safety valve.”
A Belgrade dispatch to the Daily Express, describing the Galati incident which had earlier been reported by the German News Agency as suppression by the Rumanian army of an “armed Jewish uprising” with 600 Jews killed, reported that there had been a demonstration in which 2,000 Rumanian workmen participated. Four persons were killed in a resulting clash, the dispatch said, adding: “German sources, which seem anxious to capitalize Rumanian disorders, hasten to add that the demonstrators were all Jews.”
The Daily Telegraph reported from Bucharest that there was “no official confirmation” of the German News Agency report of an “uprising” by Jews in Galati.
The Times reported from Bucharest that many Jews of the wealthier classes were among the refugees from Bessarabia while most of the poorer Jews in the Soviet-occupied province had elected to remain.
“Among the miserable crowd of fugitives from Bessarabia,” the dispatch said, “are many black owned, bearded Jews of the wealthier classes who are fleeing from the tyranny of mob rule unleashed by the invaders, even though they are casting their lot with an anti-Semitic regime which still puts faith in Hitler. Most of the poorer Jews have chosen to remain.”
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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.
