The Italian authorities have begun mass arrests of foreign Jews in northern Italy, throwing some into prison for not leaving the country and releasing others who were able to prove that they were prepared to depart. Eight Jews seized in Turin are reported to have been escorted to the German border. No further information concerning their fate has been received.
The nearly 4,000 Jewish refugees from Germany who are still here are reported in a pitiful condition, since the Government has closed down the Jewish relief committee for refugees and they are penniless. Many are living on house-to-house beggary. For living quarters large groups huddle in one room or walk the streets at night.
Hundreds of Jews who moved to the French border in the hope of eventually being able to cross into France have been ordered by the Italian border authorities to evacuate the area. Trapped and without the relief committee to advise them, their attempts to leave Italy are hopelessly unorganized and futile. At the same time, the Government continues to insist that they must emigrate.
A group of nearly 100 almost succeeded in escaping into a new life by embarking on the Conte di Savoie in Naples last Wednesday as immigrants to America, only to be disembarked in Genoa when orders were issued to hold Italian ships in home ports.
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