Yielding to growing anti-Semitic agitation, the Wilno school board today dismissed all Jewish school teachers in the township of Augusto, in the Wilno district.
Previously, Jewish teachers had never been employed in Polish elementary schools, but at the beginning of the current school term, a small group of Jewish teachers, formerly employed in the so-called Sabbath schools, were transferred to jobs in the regular school system.
The Sabbath schools, financed in the main by the Jews with a small additional subsidy from the government, were part of regular schools system, but there was no instruction on Saturday.
Jewish schools and teachers have suffered severely in the Wilno district in recent months from anti-Semitic propaganda.
The attack is centered primarily against the Jewish school system. The number of subjects which could be taught in Yiddish have been gradually restricted. Only recently a sweeping decree was issued making Polish the language of instruction for all subjects. The decree was withdrawn only after the Jewish community organized a strong protest and announced that they would appeal to the central authorities in Warsaw.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.