Jows in France will be held as hostages to gunran the the safety of Germans or pro-Vichy French officials interned by the American military authorities in North Africa, the Paris radio announced today.
From Vichy it was reported that a French official speaking in the name of Laval stated that “there are more than twenty Jews in France for every Frenchman who may be maltreated by the Angle-Saxons in North Africa.”
In announcing that the Jews will be held as hostages in France, the Paris radio stated: “We must defend all French nationals who are exposed today in North Africa to the brutalities of the English and the Americans and to the vindictivness of Israel. There are still more Jews in France. They should become the best guarantors of security for the French national revolutionaries who are at present unable to return from our colonies.”
Polish consulates in North Africa, it is reported, have been granted official recognition for the first time since the collapse of France in 1940. Polish consular officials in Algiers, Oran and Casablanca immediately contacted the headquarters of the American forces in North Africa for the purpose of securing the release of Polish citizens, Jewish and non-Jewish, who have been interned by the Vichy regime in remote parts of Algeria.
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.
