Seven Jewish prisoners who were recently moved to the newly-established internment camp here from the Athlit camp today told correspondents of beatings by British investigators during interrogations at Athlit.
Mordechai Shatner described how he had been dragged by the hair and then beaten because he refused to identify himself. “We were not tortured as the Inquisition did, but such beatings can certainly be considered torture today.” He said that Sir Evelyn Barker, British commander in Palestine, had visited the camp yesterday and seen his scars. He quoted one of the investigators as stating: “We will eliminate the Jewish race.”
Hoshe Kestenbaum, another of the detainees, pulled off his shirt and showed reporters black and blue marks along his ribs. Others told how they were gagged, thrown on the floor and beaten until “the first drop of blood came. Then the beatings stopped.” They said that Raffa was as satisfactory as any detention camp can be and praised Major P.W. Seeney, the camp commandant, for his understanding behavior.
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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.
