Nazi authorities in Prague permit only one barber to serve the several hundred Jews who have not yet been deported from the city, it is revealed in a report received here today by Czechoslovak Jewish leaders. This barber is permitted to work only in the building of the Jewish Council.
Not a single Jewish restaurant remains in Prague, the report stated. The Jews can receive rationed bread, potatoes, and margarine, but no other foodstuff. It is specifically forbidden for Jews to buy shoes, clothing, soap and cigarettes. Only one ward has been set aside for Jews in a Prague hospital to accommodate patients whose condition is critical.
“All Jewish flats,” the report reveals, “have been placed at the disposal of Germans who continue to arrive from the sections of Germany bombed by the Allied air forces. The Germans receive a printed list of Jewish flats from which they are to choose their new dwellings. Any flat chosen by them must immediately be vacated by the Jews.”
The report also discloses that street cars in Prague can be used only by Jews over 60 years of age. A 84-year old Jew who used a public telephone to make a call to a hospital was sent to a concentration camp, since Jews are not permitted to use telephones.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
