Argentina Expels Jews; Deprives Naturalized Jews of Their Citizenship

Following the order closing down Jewish relief and social organizations in Argentina, the Ramirez government is reported today to have embarked on a policy of depriving naturalized Jews of their citizenship in preparation for expelling them from the country as “aliens.”

This report was brought here by Jews who fled from Argentina as a result of the increased anti-Jewish persecution there. The refugees declare that life has become very difficult for Jew in Argentina during the last few weeks and that many prominent Jews are fleeing to Uruguay and Chile in order to avoid persecution.

The arrivals quoted Buenos Aires newspapers as reporting that among the prominent Jews whom the Argentine government intends to deprive of citizenship is Alberto Gerchunoff, prominent Argentinean political writer who recently spent several months in the United States as the guest of the State Department. The Argentine newspapers indicate that Gerchunoff will be expelled as an “alien” because he was one of the 150 signatories to an appeal asking the present government to break relations with Germany. Mr. Gerchunoff was born in Russia and was brought to Argentina as an infant.

Many of the denaturalized Jews have already been deported from Argentina, the Jewish refugees arriving here stated. The increased anti-Jewish measures of the government were initiated immediately after a group of Jewish leaders in Buenos Aires were summoned to the Ministry of Interior and asked to sign a statement saying that there had never been any racial discrimination in Argentina. The statement, which was issued later through government channels, was intended to counteract President Roosevelt’s denunciation of the Argentine Government for closing down the Jewish newspapers in Buenos Aires, which were reopened six hours after the President issued his statement in Washington.