More than 60,000 Jews have been massacred in Bessarabia and Bukovina by Rumanian soldiers since June, it was estimated today by a neutral diplomat reaching here from Bucharest.
The Nazi-controlled Rumanian government, the diplomat said, has embarked on a policy of complete annihilation of all the Jews in the country. No medical aid is given to Jews despite the fact that typhus and other epidemic diseases are raging throughout the country. In addition to depriving the Jews of medical treatment, the Rumanian authorities have also confiscated practically all the clothing, shoes, linen and underwear of the Jews under the pretext that these articles are needed by the army.
The non-Jewish population in Rumania displays little sympathy for the persecuted Jews, the diplomat stated. The Rumanian press, controlled by the Nazis, is trying to impress the population with the idea that all Jews in the country are either “Communists” or “British spies.”
The newest ghetto in Rumania has been set up in Ploesti, the city where the Rumanian oil industry is concentrated. All Jewish residents of Ploesti were ordered to leave most of their belongings behind when they were forced to move into the ghetto.
Jewish men between the ages of 18 and 50 who have not as yet been impressed into the existing forced labor battalions will have to report for forced labor registration on Thursday, January 8, in accordance with a special order issued by the authorities in charge of labor camps. They will be sent to work on military and civil projects and will have to report back to the registration offices immediately after finishing the specific tasks assigned to them.
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.
