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Dr. Solomon Dyk, Noted Jewish Agronomist, Dies in France; Ort Experts Deported

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Dr. Solomon Dyk, prominent Jewish agronomist, who was connected with Jewish agricultural activities in pre-Hitler Germany, Poland, France, Austria and Palestine, has died in Grenoble, France, according to word reaching here today.

Dr. Dyk was one of three agronomists sent to Madagascar by the Polish Government in April, 1937, to investigate the possibilities of settling Polish Jews there. In 1939 he visited Dutch Guiana to investigate Jewish settlement possibilities there.

After spending some time in Palestine, Dr. Dyk went to France, where he became director of the agricultural activities of the ORT. In 1940 he was arrested in then unoccupied France by Vichy police, but was released after two weeks internment.

The report of Dr. Dyk’s death also discloses that three other well known ORT agronomists, whose names are not given, are being hidden by peasants in France. Dr. Martin Weil, secretary of the French ORT, and Dr. Alexander Charasch, another ORT official, have been deported, the report says, adding that ORT schools in Limoges and Perigueux are still functioning.

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