Acting in reprisal for the British bombing of the Ruhr dams, the Nazi authorities have deported 50,000 Jews from the fortress town of Terezin, in the Czech Protectorate, to “death camps” in occupied Poland, the Swedish newspaper Aftontidningen reported today.
The majority of the deportees – who came originally from Czechoslovakia, Austria and Germany – had been confined at Terezin for many months. They were kept completely isolated and were jammed together in a comparatively small area with little provision for food, shelter or sanitation. They were told that they were being sent to Poland because a Jewish refugee from the Ruhr had advised the Royal Air Force to bomb the Eder and Mohne dams. The British Government, however, had already denied a report that the suggestion to destroy the dams came from a Jewish refugee.
The Reichsanzeiger, organ of the Nazi Protector in Prague, which reached here today, carries a list of 88 Jews whose property was confiscated last week because they had either succeeded in escaping abroad, or had been deported as “dangerous elements.”
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.