Evacuated Russian Jews Return to Liberated Areas in the Ukraine

Russian Jews who had been evacuated from various sections of Russia before the Nazi invasion are now returning to the liberated regions because they love their homes and the separation was only a temporary one,” Lt. Colonel Peter Matunoff, member of the Soviet Legation at Ottawa, declared here today before representatives of the press.

“The majority of the Jewish populations of the Ukraine, White Russia and other threatened parts of the Soviet Union were evacuated before the arrival of the Nazi hordes,” he said. He stressed the fact that in many cases preference on the railroads was given to the Jewish evacuees because the authorities knew that the Jewish populations were always the first victims of the Hitlerite atrocities. The evacuation was carried through very systematically. Thousands of Jews were sent to the Urals where they were absorbed in the war industries. These industries played a vital role in the defeat of the enemy on many fronts. The Polish-Jewish refugees were sent to Tashkhent, he added.

Answering a question on the participation of Russian Jewry in the fighting forces Lieut. Colonel Matunoff stated that he met Jewish heroes on all fronts.