American military authorities, in an attempt to prevent Jews escaping from Poland from remaining in American-held territory, are using nethods similar to those used by the Gestapo, it was charged here today in testimony given before the local Jewish committee by two Jews who arrived here from a reception camp for Jewish refugees near Pilsen, Czechoslovakia.
Emphasizing that U.S. troops are returning to Poland transports of Jews escaping from the anti-Semitic terror there, the two, Bezalel and Frymeta Tepper, reported the following details:
On August 23 a transport of 650 Jews who escaped from Poland arrived via Prague at the Pilsen reception camp. Interrogated by American officers, they tried to pass themselves off as German Jews desiring to return to Munich. But their faulty German gave them away. Whereupon, an American general ordered the return of the entire transport to Poland.
The next morning, the camp was surrounded by American troops armed with machine guns, in a manner made familiar by the Gestapo. The soldiers drove the resisting Jews from the huts, using the butts of their rifles indiscriminately against women and children. They were aided by Germans, Poles, Hungarians and Ukrainians so that there were three to four men to every Jew.
The victims were then rounded up and thrown into trucks and mercilessly beaten. Protests against the Americans allowing Germans to beat Jews were ignored. The Jews were driven to the railway station and loaded into sealed trains. Some of them who escaped into the woods were followed and fired upon by pursuing troops. A 54-year-old woman, Rachel Kleinmann, who was among two families captured, suffered a beart attack. One of the refugees who was a doctor pleaded that she be sent back to the reception camp, but his appeal was rejected. Three hours later, however, an American army doctor arrived and ordered the woman’s release.
Other reports reaching here from Czecheslovakia concerning the situation of Polish Jews who continue to flee from Poland because of the unabating anti-Jewish terror there state that there are at present 6,000 Jews from Poland in Prague and 2,500 in the camp near Pilsen.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
