The Papal Nuncio at Vichy, acting upon orders from Pope Pius XII, has intervened with the Petain Government concerning the treatment of Jews, according to reports reaching here today.
Following the recent mass-arrests of Jews in France the Papal envoy is reported to have told the heads of the Vichy Government that “he did not understand the treatment accorded Jewish refugees”and requested an end to “these inhuman arrests of a defenseless people.”
The report states that following the Papal Nuncio’s intervention Marshal Petain asked the German occupation authorities to limit the arrest of Paris Jews to those of non-French origin, to stop the deportation of French Jews to Poland, and to stop separating French Jewish families. It is not known whether the Nazis agreed to any of these suggestions.
The Ny Dag, published here, today reports that a French policemen was arrested by the Germans in the town of Azay sur Cher, near the demarcation line between unoccupied and occupied France, on charges of attempting to smuggle sixteen Jews into the free zone.
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