Jews Called Up for Military Service in Rumania; Govt. Makes Grant to Jewish Schools

For the first time since the introduction of anti-Jewish laws in Rumania, Jews will be called up for military service in the armed forces on May 1, the local press reports.

There is some dissatisfaction, however, that Jews who served in forced labor battalions during the Antonescu regime, and those who were confined in concentration camps, are not being exempted from service, if they are able-bodied.

Following conversations between the Government and the Federation of Jewish Committees, it was announced today that the Jewish school system will receive an official subsidy of 900,000,000 leis for the next six months. The Federation had asked for 1,500,000,000. The Government will also increase by 100,000,000 leis the grant given Jewish religious organizations.

Dr. William Filderman, who had asked permission to go to Palestine to present the case of Rumanian Jews to the Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry on Palestine, was refused an exit visa, although the British mission here intervened, he disclosed today.

In a statement to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency he said that “thousands of Jews in Rumania will commit suicide if the gates of Palestine are not opened. To refuse to establish a Jewish state,” he continued, “means that the 52 nations which endorsed the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine have betrayed their responsibility and will be responsible for any new Jewish victims. The majority of Rumanian Jews wish to emigrate.”

The Federation of Jewish Committees, which embraces all Jewish groups including the Communists, has sent a memorandum to the inquiry committee, describing the critical situation of Rumanian Jewry, and demanding free immigration and the establishment of Palestine as an independent Jewish state.