Nazis Tell Polish Jews to Seek Emigration Funds from U.S.

Emulating the Nazi officials in Vienna, Gestapo officials in Nazi-held Poland are “advising” Jews in Warsaw and Lublin districts to cable their relatives in America to deposit American currency with German travel agencies in the United States in order to secure guaranteed permission to leave Poland for overseas countries, it was reported here today.

The Jews are urged to ask that the money be deposited in New York with the German-owned Hamburg-American and Nord-Deutscher Lloyd Lines. The sum of $720 is requested for each prospective emigrant as “special passport fee” and cost of passage.

the passage money, when collected in the United States by the two German agencies, will enrich the German treasury with foreign currency, it was pointed out here. While these agencies may promise the prospective emigrants to secure for them passage on Spanish or Portuguese steamers. the amounts paid in America for the passage will nevertheless remain in the hands of the Nazis in view of the clearing arrangements existing between Germany and Spain or Portugal.

Though interested in securing as much American currency as possible through Jewish emigration, the Nazi authorities in Poland appear at the same time determined not to permit Jews of military age to leave the occupied territory. A number of Jews in Nazi-held Poland, according to information reaching Geneva, received notification from various consulates of Latin American countries in Berlin to appear for their visas, but were prevented from proceeding to Berlin on the pretext that they were of the age suitable for “voluntary labor.” On the other hand, aged Jews have been informed that there will be no hindrance to their leaving Poland, providing that their passage is paid in America.