The repeal of the Czarist restrictions against the Jews which are still on the Statute Book in Congress Poland, regarded as a foregone conclusion since the third reading given by the Seym last week to the Government Bill for their annulment, has encountered an unexpected obstacle in the Senate, and has been put off again for an indefinite period, some reports suggesting that it may be a very long time before the question is heard of again.
Although the Bill for the abolition of the Czarist restrictions is a Government Bill, it was a member of the Pro-Government Party, Senator Jundzill, who moved its rejection when it came up this afternoon before the Juridical Commission of the Senate. Senators Godlewski and Seyda, of the antisemitic National Democratic Party, supported him, arguing that the enactment of the Bill would be harmful to Polish prestige abroad, because it would give ground for the impression that the Czarist restrictions had been enforced till now.
Senator Achronowicz, another member of the Pro-Government Club, who was the Rapporteur on the question, agreed that the argument was one on which the Bill ought to be referred back, and the question was thereupon taken off the agenda of the Senate.
Right up to the present day the medieval restrictions against the Jewish population of Poland continue in force, Deputy Sommerstein, the spokesman of the Club of Jewish Deputies, declared in the Seym in the debate last week when the Government Bill for the abolition of the Czarist restrictions was given its third reading by the Lower House.
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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.
