Digest of Public Opinion on Jewish Matters

[The purpose of the Digest is informative: Preference is given to papers not generally accessible to our readers. Quotation does not indicate approval.-Editor.]

That the Jewish leaders in Poland realized, prior to the Pilsudski coup, that events were shaping themselves for a dictatorship, in one form or another, appears from one of a number of articles in the Polish Jewish press which reflect the state of mind of Polish Jewry just before the recent coup d’etat.

Writing in the “Lodzer Tageblatt,” Yiddish daily of Lodz, on April 25, Dr. J. Rosenblatt, Sejm Deputy, observed: “Everyone in Poland is so preoccupied with the economic troubles that the psychological process which the Polish people is passing through remains unnoticed. In many circles a discussion is going on whether Poland should go on under the present political forms, which have been determined by the Constitution, or pass over to other systems which have been adopted in some countries.

“The Polish press-and this is characteristic, a symptom of the time-is engaged,” we are told, “with the question whether Poland should continue to develop along the present political lines or set up a dictatorship. There is prevalent in Poland today a disappointment with the republican form of government set up with so much pride only a few years ago.”

The Polish Jews are urged against falling into a state of despair because of the critical conditions. in an article by Sejm Deputy Moishe Frostig. which appears in the “Najer Folksblatt,” another Yiddish paper of Lodz.

“The Jewish population and their leaders must not adopt a policy of bankrupts to whom it ‘no longer matters’ what will happen, having lost everything,” Mr. Frostig writes. “We must be calm and seek to exert a quieting influence on our environment,” he continues, “Perhaps we have committed mistakes in our political conduct during the past several years, but one success, perhaps the most important, we did achieve: thanks to our policy, not even the anti-Semitic parties today dare to blame the Jews, as they did in the past, for all evils and troubles in the country.

“Of course, we realize that our enemies still continue to regard the Jews, and the other national minorities, as merely material for political and economic exploitation and oppression. But we must not lose our heads, Let us not talk ourselves into the idea that we are falling into an abyss and that there is no salvation. no way of rescue…. We can accomplish nothing, we cannot improve our situation. through pessimism and despair.”

“Where Is the Truth?” appearing in “Der Moment,” (April 30) Yiddish daily of Warsaw, is another article that throws light on the Polish Jewish situation. The writer, N. Shwalbe, discussing the Polish-Jewish agreement, accuses both the Grabski and Skrzynski cabinets with a breach of faith in connection with the agreement. If Dr. Reich and his followers, who sought to improve the Polish Jewish relations through a policy of conciliation, failed, it was due, we are told, to the attitude of the Polish cabinets.

“The Jewish leaders had full confidence in the good faith of the Polish statesmen. That was their mistake: they did not suspect that responsible government leaders would deny obligations assumed and go back on their pledges.

“That the truth is on the side of the Jews-this will not be doubted by the world. The silence of Stanislaw Grabski since Dr. Reich’s speech stating that the agreement consisted of 42 points, and not of 12 as claimed by Grabski, is the severest accusation against him and his methods.

“Will Skrzynski, who is so sensitive to opinion in foreign countries, likewise remain silent? Perhaps we will know when the present political crisis will have passed…”