American Jewry—and with it World Jewry—was finally given the opportunity this week to know the truth about Biro-Bidjan. The expert reports by Dr. Joseph Rosen, director of the Agro-Joint. and by Dr. Jacob Zegelnitsky, director of the ORT, are the first authentic information on this Jewish territory in the Far East.
Both Dr. Rosen and Dr. Zegelnitsky, after spending three weeks in Biro-Bidjan, making an all-round study there, reach the same conclusion. They both agree in their reports that Biro-Bidjan has extensive industrial and agricultural possibilities, but that it will require immense capital to develop these possibilities and that tremendous difficulties must be overcome before the region is fit for settlement.
SAYS FOREIGN GROUP COULD HELP DEVELOPMENT
Dr. Zegelnitsky believes that Jewish organizations from abroad could greatly assist the development of Biro-Bidjan. Dr. Rosen is silent on this point. He indicates in his report that it is much easier to colonize Jews on land in Crimea, where the Agro-Joint is still operating, than in distant Biro-Bidjan.
But apart from this slight disparity there is practically no difference between the conclusions to which Dr. Rosen comes in his report and those Dr. Zegelnitsky reaches. There is a tone of definite friendliness towards Biro-Bidjan in both reports. The two much respected Jewish leaders equally emphasize the richness in natural resources of the territory and arrive at the same conclusions, that no Jewish colonization will be possible in Biro-Bidjan on a large scale unless tremendous drainage is undertaken and unless more roads are built.
LAND MORE SUITED TO INDUSTRY THAN FARMING
It is rather interesting to note that Dr. Rosen in his report emphasizes the fact that the industrial development of Biro-Bidjan presents perhaps greater opportunities and fewer difficulties than the agricultural development. A third of the territory is, according to Dr. Rosen, altogether unsuitable for agricultural settlement. The other two thirds consisting of marshy lowlands could be made tillable only after extensive and rather expensive drainage.
The Jews in America will be especially interested in Dr. Rosen’s announcement that the Soviet government would welcome the settlement of a considerable number of foreign Jews along with the Soviet Jews. Thousands of Jews in Poland, Germany and Austria would no doubt make their way to Biro-Bidjan if they could only feel that they could start a free and normal life there.
COULD HELP SOVIET MAKE BUREVA FERTILE
Naturally, if a Jewish migration from abroad into Biro-Bidjan is started, and if Biro-Bidjan really turns out to be a place where Jews from the anti-Semitic countries could begin their lives anew, foreign Jewish relief organizations would no doubt become interested in helping the Soviet government overcome the difficulties in converting Biro-Bidjan into a fertile territory. Millions of dollars have been spent by Jewish organizations for drainage in Palestine. Millions of dollars could also be spent by Jewish organizations for the drainage of Biro-Bidjan.
The private trip which Dr. Rosen has now made to Biro-Bidjan—a trip which has nothing to do with the Agro-Joint, which Dr. Rosen represents — may therefore become an historic event. Jewish organizations abroad, interested in seeking territories for the oppressed East European Jews, will no doubt study Dr. Rosen’s report in minute detail. The result of this study cannot be foretold at present. It may, however, be expected that Dr. Rosen’s and Dr. Zegelnitsky’s conclusions will be taken as a foundation for the work which foreign Jewish organizations may eventually decide to undertake.
DISCUSSES WAR DANGER IN FAR EAST
Dr. Rosen mentions in his report the “war clouds” overhanging the Far East. These “war clouds” have been among the chief arguments against Biro-Bidjan. It has been argued that the Soviet government is interested in proclaiming Biro-Bidjan as a Jewish republic just because it wishes to create a buffer state between Soviet Russia and Japan. It wishes to establish a second Manchukuo.
Without denying the danger of war, Dr. Rosen points out quite logically in his report that with the present state of affairs in Europe nobody can tell where the danger for the Jewish population is greater—in the Far East or in Eastern Europe. Should Soviet Russia be involved in a war, millions of Jews in Poland will be exposed to more danger on the Polish – Soviet frontier than would the thousands of Jews on the Soviet-Japanese frontier.
HAVE DONE GREAT SERVICE FOR JEWRY
Dr. Rosen and Dr. Zegelnitsky have done a tremendous service in giving to the Jewish world the first authentic and unbiased views on the actual situation in Biro-Bidjan. Their reports will be studied with ardent interest, by those who are seeking a solution for the millions of starving East European Jews who have nowhere to migrate. On the basis of these reports, Jewish leaders will now finally be in a position to decide as to whether or not they should consider the Biro-Bidjan project seriously.
The reports on the possibilities of Jewish colonization in Biro-Bidjan, made public by Dr. Rosen and Dr. Zegelnitsky this week, coincide with reports from Austria and Poland showing that the Jewish situation in these countries is going from bad to worse.
AUSTRIA DEPRIVES JEWS OF CITIZENSHIP
It is for the first time in centuries that Jews were deprived of citizenship this week in Austria. In Poland the Jewish situation has become so unbearable that Jewish members of the Polish Parliament lost their patience this week and from the parliamentary tribune, accused the Polish government of deliberately conducting a policy of annihilating its Jewish citizens and of degrading them to a state of beggary.
By revoking the citizenship rights of seventy-six Jews this week, the Austrian government has embarked on a practice which even Nazi Germany hesitated to introduce. Thirty thousand Jews from Bukovina, Galicia and other parts of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire wro after the war adopted Austrian citizenship are now on the verge of becoming stateless.
SCHUSCHNIGG PLEDGES AGAIN PROVE FALSE
The process of converting Jewish citizens into “men of No Man’s Land” was started this week despite the repeated assurances given publicly by Dr. Schuschnigg, the Austrian premier, that all citizens will be treated equally in Austria. While making these assurances to Jewish leaders the Austrian government was busy mapping out its plan to deprive the Jews of their citizenship, to institute a ghetto for Jewish children, and to dismiss Jews from state and municipal positions.
It is perhaps not customary to call a premier of a country a liar, but it is hard to believe that Dr. Schuschnigg, being the Premier of Austria, did not know that the above mentioned anti-Jewish orders were in store for the Jews when he made his famous pacifying pro-Jewish declarations in Geneva and later in Vienna. If Jewish leaders abroad have entertained any confidence in Dr. Schuschnigg as an individual and in his assurances as the head of Austria, in the future they will know how little credence his utterances can be given.
OPEN CHARGES MADE AGAINST POLAND
In Poland, Rabbi Lewin, a member of the Polish Parliament, a staunch supporter of the present regime and a leader of the pro-government Agudath-Israel party, this week openly charged that the Polish government has reduced a million Polish Jews to beggary. Speaking from the platform of the Polish Sejm, the orthodox Jewish parliamentarian revealed to the world the painful fact that a million Jews—one third of the entire Jewish population of Poland—are now dependent upon charity.
Dr. Thon, president of the Jewish parliamentary club, speaking from the same platform, made it clear to the Polish parliament that if the Jews of Poland never complained to the League of Nations about being mistreated by the Polish government, it is only because of their loyalty to the government and not because they have nothing to complain of.
HEAVY TAX BURDEN PLACED ON JEWS
Dr. Thon openly charged the Polish government with deliberately burdening the Jewish population with heavy taxes which make their existence impossible. While favoring the peasantry, the government is imposing the entire burden of taxation upon the Jews, who populate the cities. Dr. Thon complained.
In perhaps no country in Europe are taxes as high as in Poland. Situated between two powerful enemies—Soviet Russia and Germany—Poland is compelled to maintain a large army and to indulge in an extensive production of arms and ammunition. All this must be met by the budget, which is covered by taxes. The Jews, comprising only ten per cent of the population of Poland are made to cover practically forty per cent of the entire Polish budget. In effect, this means that about one half of the Polish army is being supported by Jewish taxes.
Such a state of affairs, where the Jews, being ten per cent of the population, are compelled to pay as much in taxes as the non-Jewish ninety per cent of the population, is intolerable. It ruins the entire Jewish economic existence in Poland. Taking into consideration that Jews find no employment in government offices and that Jews receive no unemployment relief in Poland, one can easily realize how all classes of Jews—the professional as well as the commercial—are gradually being crushed.
The forthcoming winter will be one of the most tragic winters for Polish Jewry if no serious steps are taken to alleviate their legal and economic position.
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.
