Adolf Berman, Jewish deputy in the Polish National Council and former partisan leader, denouncing the continued murder of Jews and Polish democrats has called for more vigorous Government action to suppress the anti-Semitic and anti-Government terror.
Premier Eduard Osubka-Morawski, opening the tenth session of the Council called on the Polish people to take up the struggle against anti-Semitic bands which, he said, threaten not only the Jews but the entire Polish nation. He declared that while Poland needed the hands and brains of every citizen the Government would not stand in the way of Jews who desired to emigrate to Palestine and realize there their national aspirations.
Describing the effects of anti-Semitism in Poland. Dr. Bermen declared: “Once again we face new graves. No day passes without Jewish victims. During the past few weeks forty Jews were killed. Polish democrats, too, fall. Jewish youth cannot stand by passively and see these murders. The youth has a glorious tradition–it fought in the Warsaw and Bialystok Ghettos, and having fought against the enemy, it wants to fight these Fascist bandits too. We have urged that we be given weapons for our defense.
“We realize that the new wave of anti-Semitic terror is part of the Fascist program in its fight against the Government, and that the murders are inspired by Polish reactionary centers outside the country. We think that the time is at hand for the Polish working class and the whole people to take the offensive and attack Fascism.”
Calling for stronger Government measures, Berman asserted that “indulgence by the Government is mistaken by the Fascists as weakness. They need to be shown the contrary.”
He said that the Jewish people who desire to reconstruct their lives have created a new economic life based on cooperative workshops and that the Jewish masses “want to fight for their own state.” Thanking the Premier for his support for Jews desiring to build their homeland in Palestine, Berman said “the Jewish people will remember the assistance granted them in this historic moment.”
Premier Osubka-Morawski pointed out that in Poland the Fascists were still trying to murder the surviving Jews, at the same time as the creators of the doctrine of racist ideology and hatred between men were being tried at Nuremberg. Declaring that the Government has already taken measures to deal with terror and the spreading of racial hatred, he called on the entire Polish people to back the Government program of equality of all citizens without distinction as to race, nationality or religion. He insisted that the state must grant equal protection and rights to all citizens as well as expecting equal duties from all.
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.
