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Polish Jews Under Fire by Radicals

May 14, 1934
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The old method of assailing Jews by charging that they attack Christians was renewed today in the anti-Semitic press which alleges that one hundred Jews assaulted Polish students in the Paderewski Park of Praga, a Warsaw suburb, where actually a dozen Jews were attacked by the Nara rowdies.

Nara, the National Radical party, is conducting a systematic campaign of terror and intimidation against the Jews of Poland. Members attack Jews who walk in Warsaw’s public parks and suburbs in the evening and are continuing the smashing of windows in Jewish shops. Their excesses have been repeatedly registered in Wilno, Lodz, Bialystok and Czenstochowa. Reputed to be aided by German Nazis, they are seeking to rally about themselves all anti-Semitic and anti-government forces.

The Jewish press states that authorities are contemplating strong action against the Naras and are considering a ban on the party’s uniforms on the ground that they are recruiting criminal rowdies who are paid for maltreating Jews. Often Jewish victims are robbed in addition to being beaten up.

Simultaneously the Nara organization made the announcement that its weekly organ Sztafeta is to be issued daily, beginning tomorrow. Despite the energetic efforts of the police in taking measures against the Naras, the latter, in their gray uniforms, parade in the streets, shouting “Buy our anti-Semitic paper Sztafeta,” without hindrance from anyone.

Recently, alarmed by the extent of the Nara excesses, the Jewish community called a special meeting to consider the problem. The Yiddish theatre at Lodz was compelled to cancel its performances because Jews did not dare to leave their homes after nightfall.

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