The Swedish press today publishes the terms of the agreement reached between the Rumanian Government and the Jewish Central Office in Bucharest with regard to the repatriation of deported Rumanian Jews from Transnistria, the Rumanian-administrated section of the Ukraine. The agreement, which is termed by the Swedish newspapers as a “ransom deal,” provides:
1. The Rumanian Governments puts at the disposal of the Jewish Central Office ten trucks for transportation of Jews from Transnistria, but the Jewish organization is to pay for each person the cost of a third-class railway ticket.
2. Each Jew permitted to return from exile in Transnistria must apply for an identification card within three days after his return. A sum up to 800,000 lei must be paid in for each such card in advance by the Jewish Central Office.
3. The Jewish Central Office is to supply clothes for every returning Jewish deportee prior to his leaving Transnistria for his home town.
4. The Rumanian Government guarantees to each returning Jew personal security. This apparently includes also a guarantee that he will not be molested by Gestapo officials in Rumania.
5. The Jewish Central Office undertakes to pay immediately the arrears of the special tax imposed upon Jews in 1943 in addition to 4,500,000 lei which are to go on the account of the same tax for 1944.
The Swedish newspapers also report today that the Rumanian Labor Ministry has issued an order to all employers in the country requiring firms employing Jews to employ within twenty days, a similar number of “ethnic Rumanians.” Heavy fines are provided for violations of this order.
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