Jews in Slovakia have become a commodity on which Nazi Germany is making millions of marks, it was learned here today from a reliable source which stated that for each Jew deported from Slovakia to Nazi-occupied eastern territory the German Government is charging Slovakia 4,000 marks.
In this way, it was disclosed, Germany is paying off her debt to Slovakia for imported Slovakian articles, chiefly food and timber. The “admission money” paid by Slovakia to Germany for the deported Jews has now reached hundreds of millions of Slovakian crowns, the report says.
This system was introduced when Germany was unable to pay the sum of 2,500,000,000 crowns owed to Slovakia for exported commodities. The Nazi government then informed the heads of the puppet-state that it would have to charge a fee of 4,000 marks for the transportation and admission of each Slovakian Jew into Nazi-held eastern territory. These fees, the Nazis proposed, would not be collected in cash but would be applied to the 2,500,000,000 crowns debt which the Reich owed to Slovakia. The Slovakian authorities “agreed” to this proposal and the mass-expulsions of Jews from Slovakia was intensified to the satisfaction of both Slovakia, which seems to be ambitious to be the “first country without Jews” in Europe, and Germany, which is anxious to wipe out as much of its debt to Slovakia as possible.
In order to partially compensate itself for the “Jewish admission fee” paid to Germany, the Slovakian Government is confiscating the Jewish property in the country. This, the report says, covers only a small part of what Slovakia is losing to Germany.
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.
