Observers in Moscow predicted today that a newly-concluded “population exchange” agreement between Soviet Russia and Germany would be used by the Reich as a means of sending thousands of Jews and Poles into Soviet Russia from Nazi parts of Poland, according to the Havas News Agency.
Soviet law permits a most liberal definition of “nationality.” Each individual is permitted to designate his choice. There was every reason to believe that Reich authorities would force many Jews and Poles to opt for Russian nationality, in order to make room for Germans, the dispatch said.
The agreement will involve the transfer to Reich territory of 115,000 persons of German descent. The Soviet Union, in turn, will accept about 1,000,000 Ukrainians, Ruthenians, Bielo-Russians and Russians now living in the German areas of Poland.
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