France turned the clock back 100 years today by announcing that a law is being drafted by the Vichy Government under which all Jews in France whose surnames sound French or “Aryan” must assume the names used by their ancestors during the years between 1830 and 1850.
The announcement was broadcast over the Rome radio in a dispatch from Vichy. It stated that Darquier de Pellepoix, French Commissioner for Jewish Affairs, has been entrusted with preparing the details of the new anti-Jewish law.
With the Nazis fully in control of France, the position of the Jews there has become similar to that of the Jews in Belgium and Holland. Reports reaching here state that mass-arrests of Jews continue throughout France. Some of the arrested persons are being deported to unknown destinations in the east, while others are being sent to build fortifications. The fate of both categories of exiled Jews remains unknown. It is believed here that the Jews who are engaged in building fortifications are executed as soon as they carry out the task to which they are assigned. This action is taken by the Nazis as a precaution to insure that the victims do not, in some way, reveal the secrets of the fortifications to the Allied powers through Frenchmen who are still fleeing from France to North Africa.
SWISS PRESS PESSIMISTIC ABOUT FUTURE OF FRENCH JEWRY
The Swiss press is quite pessimistic concerning the immediate future of the Jews in France. Reporting that the Nazis have decided to make France “judenrein” by February 15, Swiss newspapers express the opinion that the Jews in France will definitely face the same fate as the Jews of Norway, whose deportation and arrest provoked world-wide protests. The difference between the Jews in France and those in Norway is that while many of the latter fled to neutral Sweden, it is almost impossible now for a Jew to escape from France to any of the neighboring neutral countries, Swiss correspondents state.
In the meantime, more information has reached here from Marseilles concerning the mass-arrests of Jews and Frenchmen there this week. The information reveals that Jews in Marseilles are fearful of appearing in the street. A number of Jewish organizations have moved their offices from Marseilles to other French towns where the Jews are less harassed at present.
The French population, encouraged by the Church, is displaying great sympathy for the Jews but can do little for them, the reports from France declare. They reveal that a clandestine Christian magazine combatting anti-Semitism is now being widely circulated throughout France. The magazine contains the text of declarations by French church leaders against the persecution of Jews in France and attacks the Nazi theories as being fundamentally anti-Christian.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
