STRONG PROTEST AGAINST SEGREGATION OF JEWISH STUDENTS ON “GHETTO” BENCHES IN POLISH UNIVERSITIES WAS VOICED IN THE SEJM TODAY BY DEPUTY EMIL SOMMERSTEIN. DESCRIBING THE SYSTEM NOW ENFORCED IN MOST COLLEGES AS A FORM OF THE “MEDIEVAL YELLOW PATCH,” THE JEWISH DEPUTY SAID IT CONSTITUTED A CAPITULATION TO ANARCHIC ELEMENTS.
THE GOVERNMENT-SANCTIONED MEASURE, HE DECLARED, HAD FAILED TO RESTORE ORDER IN THE UNIVERSITIES AS INTENDED, AND WAS BEING REGARDED AS THE FIRST STEP TOWARD SEGREGATION OF ALL JEWS IN GHETTOES.
THE DEPUTY’S INTERPELLATION DEMANDED ABOLITION OF THE MEASURE AS VIOLATING THE CONSTITUTION AND AS CONCEIVED IN THE SPIRIT OF THE MIDDLE AGES. IT CONCLUDED BY ASKING PREMIER SKLADKOWSKI AND EDUCATION MINISTER SWIETOSLAWSKI WHAT MEASURES THE POLISH GOVERNMENT WOULD TAKE TO REVOKE THE ORDER AND GIVE JEWISH STUDENTS AN OPPORTUNITY TO CONTINUE THEIR STUDIES IN PEACE.
THE SEGREGATION IS INTENDED “TO DISHONOR JEWISH YOUTH,” DEPUTY SOMMERSTEIN DECLARED LATER IN ADDRESSING THE SEJM BUDGET DEBATE. HE POINTED OUT THAT JEWISH STUDENTS WERE NOT EVEN PERMITTED TO STAND IN PROTEST.
HE WAS FREQUENTLY INTERRUPTED AND WAS FINED $5 FOR ATTACKING THE COURTS’ MILD SENTENCES AGAINST ANTI-JEWISH RIOTERS. ATTACKING ECONOMIC MEASURES AIMED AGAINST THE JEWS, HE SAID THE POLISH JEWS WOULD NOT ALLOW THEMSELVES TO BE OUSTED FROM THEIR POSITIONS.
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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.
