An official of the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith said here that while it is “regrettable” that world Jewry has agreed to participate in the Polish government sponsored commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, Jews who do participate should use the occasion to denounce “human rights violations and anti-Semitism in Poland.”
The official, Abraham Foxman, associate national director of the ADL, who is native of Poland and a survivor of the Holocaust, noted in a statement issued here that “in recent months, anti-Semitic canards have been spread by the Patriotic Grunwald Union with no evident government counter-action. The government controlled press has published anti-Semitic articles and cartoons.
“One cannot ignore the general atmosphere in Poland, where those who advocate human rights are subjected to harassment and intimidation,” Foxman said. He said that despite the lifting of martial law, imposed on December 13, 1981, “repression is as evident now as when it was still in effect. It is regrettable that, given this reality, well meaning Jews have agreed to take part in the Polish commemoration.”
The eight-day commemoration will begin in Warsaw April 15 with some 1,000 delegates representing 24 countries, including Israel and the Soviet Union, expected to attend.
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