About a year ago you American Jews learned about the great “wealth” of the Jews in Poland. Your delegates who visited us occasionally no doubt reported what they had seen.
There was a great deal of truth in the stories of Jewish wealth in Poland. The Polish mark had fallen to a very low level indeed and every Jew who had the good luck to receive a couple of dollars became almost a magnate and his fortune kept growing from day to day: today his dollars were worth 10 million marks, the next day 20 million, etc.
In those days the Jews lived in high style, the majority living much above their means. A Jew possessing one dollar lived on the basis of two dollars. When one had ten dollars, his wife felt entitled to a present of diamonds.
So the wheel turned, speedily, dizzily: quickly earned, still quicker spent. And no one stopped to think that a rainy day might come soon.
But all this wealth was a bluff, falsely inflated like the currency of the country. The day of accounting finally arrived. The government ceased flooding the country with worthless marks, which formerly had been issued by the tons, day and night.
In addition to this the government instituted a new method of anti-Semitism: imposing the heaviest taxes on the Jews. It is not to be wondered, therefore, that falsely blown up “wealth” of the Jews suddenly vanished.
Today you can find in Warsaw and in many other cities of Poland “millionaires” and “billionaires” who are, literally, starving. Erstwhile millionaire-manufactures who squandered hundreds of dollars are now subsisting on stale bread. In many first-class restaurants of Warsaw can be seen Jews selling raffle tickets for automobiles, their own automobiles which they are forced to sell in this manner because they are now ruined. They stand there in tattered clothes, hungry and miserable, offering their tickets to the patrons of the restaurants. Once they were wont to drive up to these restaurants in the automobiles they are now trying to sell and to order the most expensive fares.
In the records of suicides you can also find names of Jews who, driven to the uttermost extremity after a short time of wealth and luxury, have taken their lives. Many others have become insane.
That is how the wealth of the Jews has disappeared overnight so that they are now left without a cent.
The Jews were skillful masters at acquiring millions, but they did not know how to hold on to them, for the truth is there was more bluff than money in those millions.
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.
