A number of Rumanian Jews here today received cables, through the International Red Cross, from their relative deported from various sections of Rumania to the Axis-occupied part of the Ukraine knownas Transnistria, asking them for immediate aid.
The messages, apparently approved by the Rumanian censor, all had the same text which read: “Starving. Appealing with last strength for help.”
This is the first time that direct messages from Jews deported to Transnistria have reached the outside world. Official regulations issued by the Rumanian administration in this occupied section of the Ukraine which borders on Rumania, strictly prohibited the Jewish deportees from communicating with anyone, even with Jews in Rumania.
It was estimated here today that at least 400,000 Jews have been expelled by the Rumanian authorities from various sections of Rumania into Transnistria. Information smuggled out previously from Transnistria indicated that more than 200,000 of the Jews there either have died of starvation or of torture. The fact that the Rumanian administration in Transnistria has permitted Jews there to send drastic appeals for relief to Jews in Palestine is taken as an indication that the hitherto desperate position of the Jewish deportees has become so aggravated that the Rumanian Government has found it necessary to relax its regulations.
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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.
