Matzoth to Be Shipped into Nazi Areas from 3 Border Lands

The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee plans to purchase approximately 1,500,000 pounds of matzoth in Hungary, Rumania and Yugoslavia for shipment to Jews in German territory, it was disclosed today.

Permission to send the unleavened bread into Nazi Poland as relief supplies, exempt from duty and with free transportation within Poland guaranteed by the Nazis, has been obtained by the American Red Cross in Geneva. The Nazi authorities in the Protectorate have also permitted the Prague Jewish Community to import 44,000 pounds of matzoth, which will be brought in from Yugoslavia.

For Jews in Germany and Poland, the J.D.C. intends to purchase 770,000 pounds in Hungary and 660,000 pounds in Rumania. The Rumanian authorities have already given permission for the export, on condition payment be made in American currency. The Hungarian authorities have so far refused an export license, but B. Jacobson, representative of the J.D.C., now in Budapest, has secured the intervention of the American Legation there and it is believed permission will be forthcoming.

All shipments to Poland must be addressed to German Red Cross headquarters in Cracow for delivery to the J.D.C., which will arrange for their distribution to local communities.

The Krakauer Zeitung, Nazi organ in Poland, reports that more than 8,000 Jews in Cracow are being fed from Jewish soup-kitchens, receiving only soup and bread, and more than 4,000 Jews are without shelter.

The only Jewish institutions remaining in Cracow are a 110-bed hospital and a home for the aged, the Nazi paper says. The Nazis have imposed a “religious tax” on the wealthier Jews for the maintenance of the starving, the paper adds. The paper declares that “reports abroad of atrocities are all without foundation.”