A number of Zionist officials wore arrested here today in connection with an attempt by Nazis and members of the anti-Semitic Arrow-Cross organization to smuggle themselves out of Hungary in a train carrying Jews bound for Palestine.
The Zionist Federation here is not involved, and the train with the Jewish immigrants was permitted to proceed after some of the railroad personnel and fourteen passengers recognized by intelligence officers as Arrow-Cross members were arrested.
The Budapest radio, reporting the incident, today made the charge that the Zionist organization in Hungary “is accepting large bribes in dollars to smuggle out members of the Arrow-Cross party” who cooperated with the Gestapo in deporting Hungarian Jews for extermination to Poland.
The broadcast said that when the intelligence officers stopped the emigrant train and checked the identity cards of 235 passengers, they established that only 28 of the emigrants were Zionists, while the others were either German Nazis or former members of the Hungarian Arrow-Cross organization.
Contradicting the broadcast are reports in the evening newspapers which state that only 17 Nazis and “doubtful elements” were discovered on the train by intelligence officers. The press reports add that these passengers got on the train after bribing officials to let them escape from Hungary.
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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.
