ESCAPES FROM JUGOSLAVIA

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25902, 7 September 1949, Page 4

ESCAPES FROM JUGOSLAVIA

FOUR FORMER AUCKLAND RESIDENTS (New Zealand Press Association.) AUCKLAND, September 6. At least four Auckland Jugoslavs among the 120 men and women who abandoned New Zealand citizenship to return to their homeland are reported to have fled from Marshal Tito’s Government. Their escapes from Jugoslavia are the subject of many tales and rumours now circulating among Auckland’s Jugoslav community. In February, 1948, more than 100 New Zealand Jugoslavs returned to Jugoslavia in the steamer Radnik and another 20 followed in the liner Partizanka a year later. They were warned by the Prime Minister (Mr Fraser) that there was nothing the New Zealand Government could do if they found themselves unable to leave Jugoslavia.

Two men have returned to New Zealand, after considerable difficulty in quitting Jugoslavia. Another man, who played a prominent part in organising the migration from New Zealand. is reported to have fled Jugoslavia but only at the price of leaving his wife and two children. With others now in safe territory he is believed to be trying to regain a New Zealand passport. Leaders of the Jugoslav community in Auckland have questioned whether all these escapes represent a true change of heart. They claimed to-day that some of the escapees known for staunch Communist principles might have found themselves troubled by the Cominform’s break with Marshal Tito. Reports had also suggested, they said, that conditions of austerity living, police surveillance, and religious persecution had never been more severe. No further plans for continuing the migration of Nev/ Zealand Jugoslavs to their homeland have been suggested.