PREMIER SKLADKOWSKI PROMISED TODAY TO SUPPRESS ANTI-JEWISH TERRORISM, FOLLOWING A NEW OUTBURST OF VIOLENCE AT BIALSKO, POLISH SILESIA, WHILE THE POLISH SOCIALIST PARTY AND THE DEMOCRATIC UNION OF FORMER PILSUDSKI LEGIONNAIRES DENOUNCED RECENT EXCESSES.
AN OFFICIAL STATEMENT QUOTED THE PREMIER AS PROMISING SENATOR JACOB TROCKENHEIM AND DEPUTIES EMIL SOMMERSTEIN AND JOSHUA GOTTLIEB, WHO DESCRIBED TO HIM THE ANXIETY OF THE JEWISH POPULATION AT THE DISORDERS, TO “TAKE MEASURES NOT TO PERMIT THE REPETITION OF ACTS OF BARBARISM AND ANARCHY COMPROMISING THE HONOR OF THE POLISH STATE.”
THE SOCIALISTS, IN A PROCLAMATION CONDEMNING THE EXCESSES, EMPHASIZED THAT WORKERS HAD NOT PARTICIPATED IN THEM. THE PILSUDSKI LEGIONNAIRES, IN AN ARTICLE IN THEIR ORGAN, BLACK ON WHITE, SAID THAT HOOLIGANISM MUST BE STOPPED BECAUSE IT DAMAGES POLAND’S REPUTATION BEFORE THE WORLD.
“ENOUGH OF HOOLIGANISM IN THE STREETS, CREATING TERROR AND HATRED!” THE ARTICLE SAID. “ENOUGH OF EXCESSES DAMAGING THE REPUTATION OF THE CAPITAL AND COMPROMISING OUR CULTURE IN THE EYES OF THE CIVILIZED WORLD! THINGS IMPOSSIBLE UNDER THE RULE OF PILSUDSKI HAVE BECOME AN EVERYDAY OCCURRENCE. AS RUST ROTS IRON SO HOOLIGANISM ROTS THE BEST SPIRITUAL VALUES OF THE PEOPLE. THEREFORE WE MUST PUT AN END TO IT.”
TENSION HAD RELAXED SOMEWHAT TODAY IN BIELSKO AND MOST JEWISH SHOPS RE-OPENED FOLLOWING DISORDERS THURSDAY NIGHT EVEN MORE VIOLENT THAN THOSE PRECIPITATED THE PREVIOUS WEEK BY THE FATAL SHOOTING OF A POLE WHO ATTACKED A JEWISH RESTAURATEUR.
THE NEW DISORDERS WERE TOUCHED OFF BY AN UNSUPPORTED RUMP THAT JEWS HAD ATTACKED AND FELLED RESERVE OFFICER ANTHONY GORNY, WHO WAS FOUND UNCONSCIOUS IN A CITY PARK. AN OFFICIAL INVESTIGATION, IT WAS LEARNED, LATER DISCLOSED THAT GORNY IS AN EPILEPTIC, WHO FELL FROM A PARK BENCH DURING A FIT AND LOST CONSCIOUSNESS.
JEWISH HOMES AND SHOPS THAT HAD ESCAPED DAMAGE IN THE PREVIOUS DISORDERS WERE WRECKED AND PILLAGED DURING THE NEW RIOTING. SYNAGOGUES IN THE TOWN OF BIALA ALSO SUFFERED HEAVY DAMAGE. “CHALUTZ HOUSE” WAS RAZED BY AN INCENDIARY FIRE. MOST OF THE SHOPS DEMOLISHED WERE ON KOMARNICKA, SUKIENNICZA, HOLNACKA AND LIPNICKA STREETS.
THE RIOTING ASSUMED SUCH SERIOUS PROPORTIONS THAT POLICE REINFORCEMENTS HAD TO BE RUSHED IN FROM CRACOW BEFORE ORDER WAS ESTABLISHED. THE MAYORS OF BIELSKO AND BIALA JOINED IN APPEALS TO THE POPULATION TO MAINTAIN ORDER, NOT TO ASSEMBLE IN THE STREETS AND NOT TO PERMIT MINORS TO LEAVE THEIR HOMES AFTER SIX P.M.
DEPUTY SOMMERSTEIN INTERVENED WITH GOVERNOR TIMINSKI OF CRACOW AND VICE-GOVERNOR SALONI OF SILESIA, BOTH OF WHOM PROMISED IMMEDIATE MEASURES TO PREVENT FURTHER DISORDERS.
IN KOLOMYJA, EAST GALICIA, A JEWISH SPORTS CLUB WAS COMPLETELY DESTROYED BY FIRE SET BY HOODLUMS.
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.
