RANSOM RACKET

Grey River Argus, 18 February 1943, Page 1

RANSOM RACKET

Jews From Germany STOPPED BY “LIQUIDATION” DEGREE. [Aust & N.Z. Cable Assn. 7 (Rec. 12.30.) LONDON, February 17. The “Times’s” correspondent on the German frontier states: One of Germany’s most profitable vocations, “Jew dealing,” is about to disappear, Jew dealers have continually travelled between the Reich nnd neutral countries on behalf of the Gestapo, persuading friends abroad to pay fabulous ransoms in foreign countries for Jews in custody in Germany. A notorious Jew dealer, who had been most active in neutral capitals for the last two years, has revealed that a deathstroke against this racket has been struck by Hitler with a decree that Jews should be eradicated wherever they can be seized. More than 30,000 Jews have been liquidated in the Reich and the occupied countries since October 15, 1942. Action began in Berlin in the first week of December, when Jews and Jewesses, irrespective of age, status and health, were dragged from apartments, hospitals. sanatoria, and. nursing homes. Many of the deportees were over seventy. Jewish homes, for the aged were almost emptied. No records were kept. Therefore not the slightest new.s is obtainable as to the r fate.