Nazis Reported Offering Madagascar Plan to Jewish Leaders

Jewish leaders from the Reich, Austria, Nazi-held Poland and the Protectorate were summoned by the Nazi authorities to a conference in Berlin at which the plan to have all Jews from Europe “evacuated” to the French Island of Madagascar was offered to them, it is reported in Judisk Kronika, a Jewish publication here.

The Jews who participated in the conference were warned against disclosing its details, the report said. Depression is growing among German Jews as result of the conference They fear they may soon face the same fate as the Jews of Baden who were deported by the Nazi authorities to unoccupied France, reportedly for eventual transportation to Madagascar, and are now held in French isolation camps since the British blockade prevents their transportation to French Africa.

The American immigration quota for Germany for the fiscal year is still not exhausted. American consulates in Germany continue to issue visas, provided that evidence is produced that passage has been booked on a specific beat and confirmed by the steamship companies.

In view of the shortage of steamship accommodations, it is difficult for the prospective immigrants to comply with the request of the consuls and many who have their American visas ready for them in the consulates fear that it may be too late to use them, in view of the rumored impending occupation of Lisbon, the only port in Europe open for sailings to the United States.

Jews in Germany and Austria can still leave for Lisbon by special trains running twice a week from Berlin to Portugal via Paris, Hendaye and Irun. It is becoming, however, more and more difficult to make this trip because the Franco-Spanish border is frequently closed for unexplained reasons. It is assumed that the closing of the frontier takes place each time the trains are busy carrying German soldiers and supplies into Spain in preparation for an attack on Gibraltar.