Although the Nurenberg Laws have not yet been officially introduced in German-held Italy, the Jewish population there is suffering severe persecution, according to a Jewish Telegraphic Agency informant who just returned here from northern Italy.
This informant says that the Mussolini puppet government has decreed that all works of art and other property belonging to Jews are to be confiscated immediately. According to reports available in Italy, he says, about 12,000 to 15,000 of the country’s 39,000 Jews have already been sent to concentration camps under the supervision of German S. S. troops while an additional 10,000 have been deported to Germany or Poland. All remaining Jews are now being rounded up, with only those above the age of 65 being allowed their freedom. In addition, the Nazis have levied a collective fine on the Jewish populations of Trieste, Milan, Verona and Merano.
The JTA informant described heartbreaking scenes when Jewish men were separated from their wives, and mothers from their children and deported. He says that of several thousand sent to Poland hundreds died en route from starvation and cold.
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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.
