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Spain Reported Preparing to Expel Jews Who Entered After 1931; Refugees Arrested

April 2, 1940
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Reports reaching here from sources in Barcelona State that after a year of Franco rule, an anti-Semitic campaign is in progress in Spain and legislation to expel Jews who entered the country after April, 1931 is in preparation.

All German Jews in Spain were arrested and were held for a few days, according to the reports. Many refugees in Madrid and Barcelona will be deported to Germany unless they obtain visas for other countries within six months, it was said.

The small synagogue in Barcelona was closed by the Police and Jews were barred from holding services in it. Recently the synagogue was desecrated, with holy scrolls and prayer books being torn and strewn on the floor.

The press and radio in Barcelona are conducting a violent anti-Semitic campaign Jewish children are not allowed to attend public schools, not even the French school in Barcelona. Jewish babies cannot be entered in the official register unless they are baptized. Circumcision is prohibited.

Social clubs and sports organizations have introduced provisions barring Jews from membership. A Jew who died in Barcelona several weeks ago was ordered buried in a dog cemetery in St. Andres, a Barcelona suburb, because the Jewish cemetery had been demolished by the authorities. Yom Kippur services last September were held secretly in the home of a Barcelona Jew.

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