U.S. Army Employs 170,000 Poles in Germany Who Are “as Anti-semitic As Any Nazi”

The charge that the U.S. Army in Germany is now using the services of 170,000 displaced Poles who are “as anti-Semitic as any Nazi,” is made today in a cable from Munich to the New York Times by its correspondent Raymond Deniell.

The correspondent reports that this policy is responsible for the steady stream of fascist-minded Poles coming into Germany, in addition to Jews bound for Palestine. The arriving Poles join the Polish formations in the American zone, which are used by U.S. military authorities as labor service companies and guards to replace the too hastily redeployed American troops.

In its political implications this concentration of anti-Semitic and fascist-minded elements “is far more important than the pitiful influx of Jews from Poland seeking a promised land in Palestine,” the correspondent points out. “It was doubtless this system of encouraging displaced persons to remain in Germany, where they constitute an ultra-reactionary group of emigres, that Lt. Gen. Sir Frederick Morgan of the UNRRA had in mind when he said recently that the muddled policy on displaced persons contained the seeds of a future war,” he adds.

(Lt. Gen. Morgan left New York last night for Germany to resume his work as chief UNRRA operations in Germany after being reinstated by Herbert H. Lehman, UNRRA director general.)

The correspondent reveals that the anti-Semitic and fascist Poles, who are being used by the U.S. military authorities, are actually functioning under Polish officers responsible to American labor supervision companies. Their pay ranges from $19.92 a month for a private to $105.98 for a captain, the highest rank permitted in foreign formations.

“The members of the Polish companies received regular Army uniforms and are almost impossible to distinguish visually from ordinary American troops,” the N.Y. Times writer says. “Months ago a USFET directive ordered all foreign personnel to dye their uniforms blue, but traveling all over the American zone, I have yet to see any evidence of compliance and I have heard of only two instances. In addition to their pay, members of the Polish Brigade, as it is called, have the privilege of buying cigarettes, chocolate and other luxuries at American post exchanges–articles that at black-market prices are probably more to them than their pay. They have the privileges of American Red Cross clubs and receive free medical care and hospitalization,” he said.