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Gestapo Bans Emigration of Young Jewish Doctors from “protectorate”

August 8, 1939
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Prague advices said today that the Gestapo has prohibited emigration of Jewish physicians under 45 and may extend the ban to include Jewish chemists. As a result of the Gestapo’s action, Palestine immigration certificates allotted to 40 Jewish doctors will have to be redistributed.

Jews benefiting from the transfer arrangement through the British grant to Czech refugees must deposit 450,000 kronen in order to transfer £1,000, it was reported from Prague. Before the German occupation, that amount was equivalent to £3,240.

Holders of Palestine capitalist immigration certificates are required to deposit 300,000 kronen with the National Bank, plus 150,000 kronen for the “flight tax” and other taxes, before obtaining permission to effect the transfer. They must also prove beyond doubt that the money to be transferred will be invested in Palestine. If the authorities are not satisfied with this proof, only £500 will be transferred, the remainder to be forthcoming after satisfactory evidence is adduced that the emigrant and his capital are remaining in Palestine.

The Gestapo, meanwhile, has imposed restrictions upon delegates to the Zionist Congress at Geneva, necessitating modification of the list. Only those who pledge to return after the Congress, which opens Aug. 16, can be nominated. Passports of the wives of delegates who have been approved have been confiscated by the Gestapo to ensure the husbands’ return.

At the same time, the passports of all officers and employes of the Zionist Organization and the Jewish Community, as well as of their relatives, have been cancelled by the Gestapo without any reason being given.

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