The Federation of Polish Jews in America has issued a statement through the Jewish Telegraphic Agency complaining that the Polish Embassy in Washington has refused to make a reply to a communication which it has addressed to the Embassy on the subject of the verdict handed down by the Vilna court in the trial of the Jewish student Wulfin, who was tried on a charge of participation in the November disturbances.
The Federation declares that it sees in the attitude of the Polish Embassy “a flat refusal to comment on a cause celebre”, and says that the Embassy has employed for the purpose a very awkward and transparent device.
The Federation addressed its communication on April 22nd. to M. Filipowicz, the Polish Ambassador in the United States, expressing the indignation of its members “at the unwarranted and harmful allegations made by the Vilna court to the effect that the Jews bear a deep hatred for Christians generally and Poles particularly, a hatred dating back to the times of the Inquisition when the Jews were burned at the autoda-fe!”, and asking the Ambassador to inform it “whether Article 22 of the Russian legal code concerning racial hatred which was applied against Wulfin was also applied against the Christian students who instigated the antisemitic excesses and took an active part in them; if so-how many of them and for what period were they sentenced to prison?”.
To this enquiry no reply was received.
When no reply was received by the Federation eight days after the letter had been dispatched, it sent a telegraphic request for acknowledgment of its receipt. None was forthcoming.
On May 2nd., the Federation addressed another communication to the Polish Ambassador in which it said: “We regretfully confess that your silence has filled us with misgivings on the probable cause of it. We have patiently waited for your reply before issuing a statement to the public. In view of your silence, we are constrained to proceed with the issuance of our statement, regretting that our loyal intentions to sound first the accredited representative of the Polish Government have failed”.
In response to this communication, the Polish Embassy wrote over the signature of M. Poradzewski, Chancellor of the Polish Embassy, requesting the Federation to send all future Communications to the Consulate General of Poland in New York City, explaining that the previous letter had been sent there.
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.
