The plight of the thousands of Rumanian Jews who have been deported to villages in Transnistria, in the occupied Waraine, has been somewhat relieved through the efforts of existing Jewish communal organizations in some of the towns, although starvation and disease are still taken a heavy toll of the deportees, according to a report received by Jewish organizations here today.
In the town of Shargorod there are 5,300 Jews, the report says, of whom 1,800 are natives and the remainder deportees from Bukhovina. Living conditions here are slightly better than in the other communities since the Jews have 400 small houses at their disposal. About 200 skilled workers are employed as shoemakers, tailors, locksmiths and watchmakers, while other able-bodied men are sent to work in the neighboring forests. As a result of the high mortality rate among the deportees, there are 500 orphans in Shargorod, only 150 of whom can be Cared for by the community. The other children are dependent for subsistence and shelter on what aid can be given them by the residents of the ghetto, Hygienic conditions in the town are bad. Cases of spotted fever have broken out but there is no hospital to which to send the victims.
In the town of Murafa, the report adds, 4,500 Jews are living. About 800 of these are long-time residents and the others deportees. The Jewish community is headed by Drs. Imer and Weidenfeld who supervise a communal kitchen which distributes 400 meals daily, a small hospital with 25 beds, a school and a kindergarten. At nearby Ginrin there are 4,050 Jews, the report says, three-quarters of whom are deportees. A hospital with 56 beds and two physicians is operated by the Jewish community which also feeds 850 persons daily at a free kitchen. There are 249 orphans in the town for whom there are no facilities. About 500 of the able-bodied Jews work on farms and in return the authorities promised to send 20 truckloads of vegetables to help feed the Jewish population during the summer, but so far only one truckload has been received.
In Lucineti, in the Mohilev district, the report continues, there are 2,897 Jews. A communal kitchen which had been feeding 450 Jews daily was recently forced to close down because it could not secure any food. Despite difficulties, the community has succeeded in setting up a hospital with 16 beds and an orphanage which shelters 116 children.
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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.
