The Jews of Luxemburg have been notified, as an “alien element,” that all but about 300 of them, who are classified as aged or infirm, must emigrate, it is revealed here.
Of Luxemburg’s pre-war Jewish population of about 4,500, over 5,500 have already emigrated, it is learned. About 850 still remain. The Nazi, authorities have classified them in three groups: about 300 aged and infirm who cannot leave, about 350 of varying ages who have the possibility of emigrating to America, and the remainder, who, at present, have no emigration possibilities.
Most of the aged and infirm live in special homes established the Jewish community. They will be permitted to remain in Luxemburg until they die, but may be segregated in a special quarter, it is learned.
Those in the second group will be permitted to remain until they are ready for emigration. Those in the last group, unless they find a country to which to go, will probably be sent to the Lublin “reservation” in Poland.
All able-bodied Jews in the second and third groups are now employed in forced labor projects on the Luxemburg frontier. Each morning, at 6 a.m., trucks pick them up and transport them to Naumeg, on the frontier, where they work in the quarries, breaking stone for road-building and other construction work.
The synagogue in Luxemburg has been closed “in the interests of public security,” it is revealed, and is shortly to be pulled down entirely. Its closure followed a raid on it by a gang of Nazis during a recent Friday night’s service. The raiders, brandishing revolvers, interrupted the services and manhandled numerous worshippers.
Religious services are now conducted for the remnant of the congregation in one room of the Jewish school building.
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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.