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Czechoslovakia Refuses Citizenship to Ruthenian Jews; All May Have to Leave Country

November 9, 1945
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Carpathe-Russian Jews who chose to retain Czechoslovakia citizenship after Carpathe-Russia was ceded by Czechoslovakia to the USSR will probably have to leave Czechoslovakia since the Government is not likely to recognize their option, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency was told today by a high official of the (##) Ministry. Up to now, the authorities have been accepting options from these Jews in a provisional basis.

Pointing out that the Czechoslovak-Russian agreement granted the right to these Czechoslovak citizenship to Czechs and Slovaks of Carpatho-Russia, the official said that the emission of Jews from the pact was probably a corollary to the aim of the Goverment that there be no national minorities in liberated Czechoslovakia.

According to this official, the omission of Jews from the Czecheslovak-Russian treaty is not likely to have been an oversight, since a similar Polish-Russian treaty actions Jews specifically. He said that he believed it was a mistake to grant Carpa(##) Russian Jews provisional rights to elect Czechoslovak citizenship since this is not provided for in the pact and could be interpreted as an unfriendly act by the Soviet Union.

At the same time that be stressed that should the options by the Jews not be recognized by the Government, they may be asked to leave Czechoslovakia, he said they will not be forced to return to Carpatho-Russia which is now a part of the Soviet Ukraine. they will be permitted to emigrate to any country, if possible Palestine.

NEWSPAPER SAYS CZECHS DISSATISFIED WITH “JEWISH BEHAVIOR”

On the protext that it believes in giving “friendly advice” to the Jews, the ‘Svobedny Varnsdorf,” a provincial Czech newspaper which is the official organ in {SPAN}(##){/SPAN}rf of the four Czech political parties, publishes a lengthy article warning that the Czechs, who did much for Jews during the Protectorate regime, are now dissatisfied with Jewish behavior.”

The article, which is replete with anti-Jewish slurs, states that if the Nuremberg Laws had not been instituted in the Protectorate, Jews would have constituted eighty percent of the informers and collaborators. It charges that Jews abroad prefarred office jobs and had reported for service with the Czech forces only when it became obvious that the war was almost over. This, the paper alleges, is proven by the small number of Jewish dead and wounded. The article concludes by emphasizing that only these Jews can claim privileges who actually fought.

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