A prediction that the State Department may intervene with the French Committee of Liberation to secure the restoration of the Cremieux Decree which was abrogated by Gen. Henri Giraud, thus restoring citizenship to the native Jews of Algeria, is made in an article in the New York Times by Edwin L. James, managing editor of the paper.
Pointing out that last March, when Gen. Giraud abrogated the Cremieux Decree, the State Department defended his action, Mr. James writes:
“It is understood that the State Department has now changed its mind and reached the conclusion that the move was a mistake, It is further understood that the United States Government would like to see a change by which citizenship would be restored to the Algerian Jews.”
The article emphasizes that now that the battle of North Africa has been won and the French Committee of Liberation has taken over, “it would be no surprise if in the fairly near future the committee considered the matter of reinstating the Cremieux decree’s provisions, thus giving back to the Algerian Jews the citizenship which Giraud took away some five months ago,”
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