Nazis Announce New Decree Listing Further Offenses for Which Jews Will Be Executed

A new and more rigid decree in connection with the application of the German penal code to Jews and Poles in the sections of Poland annexed to the Reich was announced today by the official German news agency.

Under this decree the death sentence will be pronounced on Jews and Poles for the following offenses:

“1. For any act of violence committed against Germans – members of the armed forces, the police and the auxiliary police, civil servants, members of the Nazi party and of affiliated organizations, such as the Arbeitsdeinst.

2. For any anti-German activities.

3. For sabotage of the German work of reconstruction.”

At the same time in Lodz, the Nazis have been forced to order the 8,000 Jewish textile workers there, to take off their yellow Mogen David bands when they enter the factories and to replace then only when they leave, it is reported here today in Polish circles.

The reason for this order, according to the Polish sources, is that as a result of constant Nazi anti-Semitic propaganda among the German population in Lodz, a small German minority within the factories has been baiting the Jews and seriously interfering with production. The Nazi officials issued a decree that “within the factories there is a distinction only between good and bad craftsmen.”

Commenting on the provisions of the new penal decree the official Polish circles declared that “the German authorities during the two years of occupation have never shown any hesitation in passing the death sentence upon Jews and Poles. When, now, the German government finds it necessary to issue a special decree reminding judges of the character of the offenses for which Jews and Poles are liable to be sentenced to death, it proves the strong resistance of the population of Poland against the German invaders who are feeling increasingly uneasy in Polish territories remaining so hostile to them.”