Thousands of Baltic Jews “disappear”; Swedish Press Thinks They Were Executed

Thousands of Jews who still remained alive in ghettos in Latvia and Lithuania under Nazi occupation suddenly “disappeared” following the recent announcement by Nazi Minister Goebbels that no mercy will be shown to Jews, the Swedish press reports today.

The Afton Tidningen, a Stockholm newspaper, publishes a lenghty report “from a private correspondent” describing how certain towns in the Nazi-held Baltic countries where Jews were confined have become “judenrein.” It is believed here that the Nazis, fearing a possible Russian re-occupation of the Baltic territory during a Summer offensive, have decided to clear this territory of the remaining Jews after having massacred thousands of them in Riga and Kaunas. Some of the Swedish newspapers, in reporting the “disappearance” of the Jews, express the opinion that the majority of them were executed.