Search JTA's historical archive dating back to 1923

Over 500 Refugees Safe in Dodecanese Islands After Ship Founders

October 28, 1940
See Original Daily Bulletin From This Date
Advertisement

More than 500 German and Czech Jews, whose five-month odyssey on the small Bulgarian steamship Pentcho came to an end when their unseaworthy craft foundered off the Dodecanese Islands, were being given temporary shelter on one of the islands today, according to reports reaching here.

The ship had called at the Dodecanese and was ordered by the Italian authorities to leave within 48 hours, German dispatches from Milan said. However, the ship ran on a rock and foundered, whereupon the Governor allowed the emigrants, who were said to include 124 women and nine children, to take shelter on one of the isles pending further orders.

The refugees originally sailed from Bratislava, Slovakia, bound, according to German and Italian reports, for Paraguay, but were not permitted to land in that South American country. Since then the ship had been cruising in the Mediterranean, Rumania, Greece and Turkey refusing to receive the refugees.

Recommended from JTA

Advertisement