Street Demonstrations in Vichy Against Deportation of Jews from Unoccupied France

Mass-demonstrations protesting the deportation of Jews from unoccupied France to Nazi-held territories in Eastern Europe broke out today in Vichy, Marseilles, Nice, and several other cities in the unoccupied part of France as police led through the streets of these cities hundreds of Jews who were rounded up for transportation to the Nazi-occupied zone.

Huge crowds of Frenchmen, especially students, participated in these demonstrations, according to information reaching here from Vichy. The students, disregarding possible penalties, were yellow Mogen Dovids inside of which uncomplimentary slogans ridiculing the Vichy regime were inscribed. Many of them shouted: “The traitor Fernand de Brinon has a Jewish wife” and “the French representative in Paris has worked for years for Jewish bankers.”

The police were forced to use clubs to disperse the demonstrators, especially in Marseilles where crowds displayed open indignation. The property of the deported Jews is being immediately sold at auction by the Vichy authorities with the proceeds going to the State.

SERIOUS CRISIS EXPECTED; PARIS RADIO ATTACKS POPE FOR DEFENDING JEWS

A serious crisis in the ranks of the French Government is expected to develop as a result of the indignation throughout France at the submission of the Vichy cabinet to the Nazi demand for the deportation of Jews from unoccupied France. The members of the Cabinet held a special session last Saturday at which measures for speeding up the deportation of Jews from unoccupied France were discussed.

The Nazi-controlled Paris radio today broadcast a violent attack against the Vatican for its intervention with the Vichy Government regarding the anti-Jewish persecutions in France. At the same time, Jews in unoccupied France were reported today to be barricading themselves in their homes or hiding on farms and in forests in order to escape deportation to Nazi-held territory.