ARRIVAL IN FRANCE

Franklin Times, Volume XXV, Issue 57, 20 May 1935, Page 3

ARRIVAL IN FRANCE

SAAR REFUGEES. A HOPELESS FUTURE. Most of the refugees from the Saar collected at Sarraguemines and Forbach, the two French frontier towns, before being drafted to the interior (to the Midi and to Strasbourg). In the frontier region thei’e is strong French Nationalist and anti-German feeling, and, although the main body of refugees is unaffected by it, there have been hostile demonstrations against Max Braun and others who led the movement for the “status quo.” But apart from inevitable delays, confusion, and a certain amount of overcrowding the treatment of the refugees by the French authorities everywhere (except at Strasbourg) is excellent, writes a correspondent in i the Manchester Guardian. !

In the Midi—at Toulouse, Tarbes, Auch and so on—the refugees from the Saar meet with genuine hospitality, and many have written letters that are full of gratitude. In four communes they are getting unemployment benefit. At Toulouse, where the Mayor is a Socialist, they are housed | in schools, hospitals, and public buildings. They are all being fed and some are being clothed. Some have found jobs. To those who have not (and they are the majority) the future seems lather hopeless, even if their barest immediate necessities are provided for. The Camp in Strasbourg. In the camp of “Lize Nord,” in : Strasbourg, the treatment is very dif- ' ferent. Lize Nord is a concentration { camp where about 750 refugees are housed, most of them fugitives from the Terror in Germany who sought refuge in the Saar and are now refuj gees for the second time. There is I considerable public feeling against j them, because French, nationalism is | strong in Alsace-Lorraine, and there ! seems to be some fear of Alsatian i “Separatism,” although the grounds | for this fear are not easily discernible. , There is also a certain nervousness lest J some of the refugees might be spies j —Strasbourg is a strategic point, and I exceptional precautions are necessary, j The refugees in the camp at Lize : Nord—the one-time barracks of an ! air force detachment—live under mili- ! tary discipline. The entrance is an • iron gate that is always strongly guarded by armed sentries. The re- | fugees are fed like soldiers, women | and children included, and complain j that the children do not get enough : milk and that the food in general is bad and insufficient. There is a sol- , diers’ canteen, but as the refugees | have no money they cannot supplement their rations.

j The buildings are of stone and the rooms are cold. There is an iron stove in the centre of each, but it does not heat the distant corners of the larger rooms (some of the rooms ; hold thirty people or more). There are over 100 women and 60 or 70 children who are housed apart. Husbands and wives are only allowed to , see one another between noon and 3 o’clock, so that family life is broken , up. There is, however, a cinema, : where husband and wife can see one another in the evenings. I Discipline is very strict, and there are cold punishment cells in which prisoners are left for hours beside , fires ready to light and with cigarettes ready to smoke, but with no matches to light them. There is a roll-call night and morning, accomI panied by exhortations to discipline; ; those who infringe it are either punished or sent back to the Saar. The French claimed that there have been reasons for sending back certain persons, but these reasons were not re- . vealed.

j A good many refugees have been i turned back at the frontier. No . reasons were given, but the French , claimed that there was a reason in i every case.