Poujade Reiterates His Rejection of Anti-semitism Without Ambiguity

Pierre Poujade, leader of France’s new rightist movement, reiterated today his statement that he had informed the Grand Rabbis of France and of Strasbourg, in unequivocal language of his rejection of anti-Semitism.

In an interview with the newspaper Combat. M. Foujade commented on a statement by Dr. Jacob Kaplan, Grand Rabbi of France denying receipt of any message from the rightist leader and noting that not words but deeds must be assessed in judgment of the Poujadist movement. M. Poujade asserted that he had sent letters denying that his movement was anti-Semitic through M. Moscovitch a member of the Paris municipal council, and Jean Kaufman, a Jew who recently resigned from the Poujadist movement for delivery to the Grand Rabbis.

It is quite possible that the intermediaries presented themselves to me as qualified representatives of the Grand Rabbinate and perhaps were not. ” M. Poujade continued. “I do not know what became of my letters, but I reaffirm that I wrote them with the intention of denying anti-Semitism without ambiguity.” M. Kaufman resigned from the Poujadist movement a week ago with a blast at the anti-Semitism of its leadership.

Reminded by the interviewer that he had attacked former Minister of Commerce and Industry Henri Ulver on ethnic grounds “M. Poujade retorted that he had not gone after Ulver the Jew, but Ulver the Frenchman of a date too recent in my view. Among the remarks about M. Ulver attributed to M. Poujade was one to the effect that his “parents were still scratching fleas not so long ago on the banks of the Danube.”