Mass executions of Jews were reported today from Yugoslavia over the Nazi-controlled radio station in Belgrade. The broadcast announced that “many Jews in Belgrade were shot yesterday for sabotage.”
At the same time the Nazi military command in Yugoslavia issued a number of drastic anti-Jewish orders providing among others for the freezing of all Jewish holdings and the immediate registration of all Jewish fortunes and business enterprises.
The report states that all commercial transactions concluded with Jews in Yugoslavia after April 5, the day before the Nazis invaded the country, are considered void under the new regulations. Jews, and husbands and wives of Jews, are barred from practicing medicine, law and journalism.
Other orders of the Nazi military command provide for the immediate registration of all Jews. Those between the ages of 18 and 60, both men and women, will be put to forced labor. They are also obliged to wear yellow armlets inscribed with the word “Jew” and are not allowed to enter movie theatres, public baths, sport stadiums, public markets and restaurants. Jews are forbidden to return to the regions from which they fled as refugees.
At present of the 68,000 Jews who lived in what was formerly Yugoslavia, 31,000 are now under the domination of Germany, Italy and Hungary. In Croatia there are 29,000 who are subject to anti-Jewish treatment and 8,000 remain in the Serbian section.
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