The hearing called by Mayor Curley to receive evidence as to the fitness of the Polish General Haller as the City’s official guest has caused.
General Edwards, Commander of the American Legion, to announce that the Polish General will be invited by the Legion and not by the Mayor.
Invitations to the hearing were extended by the Mayor to representatives of the Jewish, Ukrainian and Polish population. The May or refused the Jewish protest, however, on the ground that some of the complainants are not residents of the city of Boston, but of Lynn. The Polish General’s pogrom record was submitted in writing, the statement being signed by Elihu D. Stone, Assistant Attorney General for Massachusetts, a member of the National Executive Committee of the American Jewish Congress, and Robert Silverman, Secretary of the Jewish Congress Committee of Boston.
Samuel Kalesky, Chairman of the Jewish Congress Committee and A Deputy Grandmaster of the I.O.B.A. refused at the last moment to sign the statement, although the Committee had decided to protest against the reception to the Polish General.
Mr. Kalesky’s refusal is said to be due to the efforts of certain members of the Jewish Community who persuaded Mr. Kalesky and through him, the Mayor, to suppress the Jewish protest. A number of Jews are reported to have taken it upon themselves to indicate to the Mayor they had no objection to the proposed reception to Haller.
Herman Bernstein of New York, who was to represent the American Jewish Congress at the Mayor’s hearing, had no opportunity to present his case orally but filed a written memorandum.
The Hallerincident evoked various anti-Semitic editorials in the Boston Transcript, the latest one of which today says: “These so-called ‘Jews’ then, aliens though they are, are guilty of abusing the hospitality of an all too patient and easy-going people, abusing a hospitality generously and all too widely extended. But there is a limit to patience, even to the patience of the American people. Aliens who tax American patience too far, alienswho repeatedly abuse American hospitality of which they are the greedy and ungrateful recipients, are fit subjects for deportation, regardless of the race they disgrace, the religion they pretend to avow, or the country from which they came.”
This editorial has been characterized as the greatest anti-Semitic manifestation ever seen in America.
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.
