Reich Arrests 10,000 Polish Jews for Deportation in Nation-wide Raids

Approximately 10,000 Polish Jews were arrested today in nation-wide raids for deportation to Poland. The action was believed to be motivated by the German Government’s fear that Polish Jews residing in Germany, estimated here to total 30,000, would be denationalized and prevented from returning to their country.

(Berlin’s fear was based on a Polish Government decree issued on Oct. 6 ordering all nationals abroad to obtain by Oct. 29 special visas enabling them to return to Poland. Non-compliance would invalidate a Polish citizen’s passport, preventing his return. The measure was taken under a law authorizing denationalization of polish citizens abroad “working injury to the state” or failing to maintain connections with their fatherland.)

The first transport of deportees from Berlin was expected to reach the Polish frontier between two and three o’clock Saturday morning. Among the arrested are several employees of Berlin Jewish organizations. All the deported were permitted to take with them only ten marks each. In the provinces, where heads of families were taken, their families were subsequently notified to leave Germany within 48 hours.

In Berlin alone 3,000 were arrested. Here a house-to-house search, starting at five a.m., was made in the Jewish quarter. Those seized were taken to the Alexanderplatz barracks in police vans. Hundreds of others were ordered to report to the aliens bureau, where they were given visas and told they must cross the frontier by midnight. Another 2,000 were arrested in Vienna, where raids were staged all night. Information from Cologne said many Jews were arrested and others were told to report to the authorities at one p.m. with food and clothes for a journey to the frontier.