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Prolonged Cold Wave Intensifies Suffering of 5,000 Zbonszyn Refugees

December 21, 1938
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The week-long cold spell is inflicting intense suffering on the 5,000 Jewish deportees from Germany who are still interned at the frontier town of Zbonszyn.

Although small stoves have been installed in the big military stable and flour mill occupied by the refugees, it has proved impossible to keep the places warm. A majority of the 1,000 who are sheltered in private houses are suffering equally from the cold since they are compelled to live in lofts and verandahs.

The suffering endured by the children, who are wearing every garment in their possession to resist the biting cold, is heart-rending. The problem of feeding has become most difficult, since the kitchens are in the open and the refugees must stand in line for long periods. The position of 110 refugees who are being sheltered in peasant cottages is still worse, since they are obliged to walk more than two miles in the sub-zero weather for their food.

The Jewish Refugee Committee has again intervened with the authorities in Warsaw to permit the deportees to proceed to the interior, submitting a concrete plan for liquidation of the Zbonszyn camp.

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