Jewish Refugees from Poland Persecuted by Poles in Mexican Settlement

Jewish refugees from Poland living in the camp at Santa Rosa established in Mexico by the Polish Government-in-Exile for Poles coming from Iran and India are being terrorized by Polish refugees, it is disclosed by the Mexican labor paper “El Popular” on the basis of an investigation made by a special correspondent.

Though there are only 27 Jews among the 700 Poles in the camp, the Jewish men, women and children there are addressed as “mangy Jews” and often beaten. Cries of “Jews to Palestine” and “Death to the Jews” can be heard often in the camp. Swastikas have been drawn on the entrances to the sleeping quarters of the Jews, and stones and mud were thrown through the windows of the room where Jews pray on holidays. Even the few Jewish children in the camp are reported to be persecuted without any attempt by the Polish administration of the camp to put an end to the anti-Jewish hooliganism.

Anxious to rescue the Jews from these indignities, the Jewish Community Council in Mexico City offered to take them from the Polish camp and maintain them with community funds. The Polish camp administration, however, rejected the offer, declaring that “the Polish authorities make no distinction between Jews and non-Jews.” At the same time it penalized the Jews for sending a complaint to the Polish Ambassador in Mexico, to the United States Ambassador there who represents the Office of Foreign Relief and Rehabilitation, and to Jewish relief organizations in New York.

The group of 27 Jews consists of 15 persons who came from Russia to where they escaped after the German army invaded Poland, and 12 who reached Bombay. Several of the latter had immigration visas to the United States when arriving in Bombay, but all of them had to sign a statement pledging acceptance of the terms of the Polish-Mexican agreement which provides for their return to Poland after the war and prohibits them from doing any work while in Mexico. They assert, however, that the Polish Consul at Bombay told them at that time that their signing of the statement was a mere formality, that they would have freedom of action in Mexico, and if they so wished, they could arrange for their entrance to the United States.

JEWS CONFIRM MISTREATMENT BY POLISH OFFICIALS

The 15 Jews who came from Russia complain of ill treatment by the Polish authorities in Russia after the signing of the Soviet-Polish pact of 1941. They relate how they were forced to change their names and pretend they were non-Jews in order to be accepted by the Polish army which was organized on Russian soil. They confirm reports by the Jewish Agency for Palestine that even Jews who were accepted by the Polish army were later eliminated by various means and also that Jewish soldiers were ousted from transport trains carrying Polish military units from Russia to Persia. The Jews complained to the Soviet authorities and secured their intervention. In this manner some of the Jews now in the camp here came to Iran.

After reaching Iran 250 Polish soldiers of Jewish faith were refused food and shelter by the Polish command there, Felix Pradecky, one of them, testified here. The Jewish soldiers were compelled to sleep in the streets. English officers who saw this intervened with Polish colonials, and only then were the Jewish soldiers sent to Teheran. Many Polish Jews were, at the same time, arrested by Polish military authorities on their arrival at the Iranian border station of Paheva. Without any reasons being given, the Jews were held for six weeks in the Polish prison in Iran.

INSTIGATORS OF ANTI-JEWISH ACTIVITIES REMAIN UNPUNISHED

In the four months since the Polish colony of Santa Rosa was established the directorship of the camp has done nothing to counter the spirit and activities of anti-Semitism, it is stated, Recently a new leader of the colony, Bohdan Szmejko, arrived. Mr. Szmejko is a Polish career diplomat who was Poland’s representative to the Franco government in Spain during the Spanish Civil War. He posted a notice in which he warned all instigators of unrest that they would be interned until the end of the war if they attacked Polish citizens of Jewish faith. The same night the warning was ripped down. It was never replaced.

Commenting on the findings of its reporter “El Popular” wrote, “The bloody racial wave unleashed by Hitler against the Jews in Europe is reaching our country and presents alarming characteristics, which could degenerate into a shameful tragedy for the good name of our nation should they continue unchecked or if they are not stopped in due time.

“In the Polish colony organized in the ex-Hacienda Santa Rosa, near the city of Leon, state of Guanajuato, those Poles through whose veins flows Jewish blood are suffering humiliations, vexations, personal aggressions and violent threats by their own non-Jewish compatriots. But the gravest aspect of this situation is that the Polish Minister in Mexico, to whom a report has been made on the conditions prevailing in Santa Rosa, has taken a passive attitude, compelled undoubtedly to behave in such a way due to his status as a converted Jew.”