Sir Victor Warrender, financial secretary of the War Office, reaffirmed in Commons that the Polish Government has no powers of compulsion over nationals resident in Britain with regard to conscription for the Polish Legion.
The only measures the Polish Government can take where conscription is evade Sir Victor pointed out, are withdrawal of consular protection and citizenship. Subject to the risk of these penalties, he said, Polish nationals here are eligible equally with other aliens for service in the British Army. Sir Victor’s statement was in reply to Col. Josiah Wedgwood, Labor M.P., who asked whether in view of the alleged beating up of 40 Jews who joined the Polish Legion in France, the War Minister would consider permitting Polish Jews to join the British Army instead of the Legion. Sir Victor declared that the report of the beatings had been authoritative denied.
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.
