Paderewski Sells His Anti-semitic Paper Together with Editorial Staff

The question whether journalists working on newspaper staffs can be considered “saleable property” and transferred from one ownership to another is heatedly discussed today by the Polish Newspapermen’s Association.

There are three parties in this remarkable dispute: Jan Ignace Paderwski, pianist and former Polish Prime Minister; Wojciech Albert Korfanty, a former newspaperman himself and lately Polish Commissioner General of Upper Silesia; and the Polish Newspapermen’s Association. The object of the dispute is the well-known anti-Semitic paper, “Rzeczpospolita”, established by Paderewski seven years ago, at a great investment of capital.

The paper, which was edited by an apostate Jew, Stanislow Stronski, a member of the Polish Parliament, had an extremely anti-Semitic policy. This, however, did not make for success and the owner, Paderewski, soon found the paper in financial straits. To relieve the situation, the former Prime Minister recently sold the newspaper plant, together with the staff, to Korfanty, who, although himself not less of an anti-Semite, is, because of political differences, unpopular in the political circles which center around the “Rzcczpospolita.”

The sale was effected without the knowledge of the editor-in-chief, Stronski, and the rest of the staff. As soon as it was made known, the editor as well as the staff, refused to continue under the new owner of the paper. The purchaser, Korfanty, however, declared that he bought the paper, together with its “dead and live stock.”

This statement caused a tremendous uproar in Polish newspapermen’s circles. At a special meeting of the Polish Journalists’Association a decision was adopted today, prohibiting all Polish newspapermen to work on the paper owned by Korfanty.