A Jewish teacher was arrested today following the discovery of a cash of forty tons of arms and ammunition in the Chateau de Cambe, near Bordeaux, which was rented by the ORT organization several months ago as a Jewish agricultural school. None of the students were detained.
A statement issued by Alexander Kavarsky, secretary of the ORT organization, said that on June 2, the day of the national elections in France, several uniformed soldiers drove up to the Chateau in army trucks and asked to leave a large number of cases, which they said contained medical supplies. Two days later police investigated and discovered the cases contained arms and ammunition. Kavarsky said he did not know the nationality of the soldiers, but the arrested ORT teacher declared that they had worn the insignia of the Jewish Brigade.
The arms store includes five cannon, a number of machine guns, grenades and pistols. The origin and destination of the cases remain unknown, but the French police theory is believed to be that the arms–which appeared to be British-made–were smuggled from Holland earmarked for Palestine. The French police have confirmed the fact that the soldiers who delivered the cases were British uniforms, but said that the trucks apparently were American-made.
The French Ministry of Interior today denied the possibility that the Chateau de Cambe was a transit center for Jews en route to Palestine. Police authorities searched other ORT institutions in the neighborhood, but discovered nothing.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
