Four rioters were wounded, and one died from his injuries when the police fired at a rabble which attacked Jewish shops at Zywiec, in the region of Krakau, according to an official report published here today. The police have also arrested a number of Endeks—members of the National Socialist anti-Semitic party—engaged in inciting the local peasant population to riot. The moving spirit of the local Endeks, Zajoncek, was among those arrested.
The police have also made arrests of Endeks at Bielsk, while at Krakau a number of Endek students caught distributing anti-Semitic leaflets in factories were apprehended. Arms were found on the Endeks arrested at Bielsk.
Later reports describe the attack at Zywiec as an onrush of peasants, armed with sticks and agricultural implements, bent on looting. The mob which had been incited by Endeks, offered resistance to the police, who then fired at the rioters. With the obvious object of intensifying the agitation the “Gazeta Warszawska”, an anti-Semitic paper, publishes a partly censored report under the headings “Anti-Jewish Disturbances at Warsaw—Reports Partly Exaggerated—Minor Jewish Incidents Partly Invented.”
It is evident that the report in the “Gazeta Warszawska” is intended to inflame the masses, and is part of the Endek campaign against the Government’s limitation of the autonomy of the Universities. The limitation of University autonomy, empowering the police to enter precincts of Universities in order to maintain order, has considerably diminished the prestige of the Endeks, who had a great following among the University students. They feel that by provoking disorder, they may force a reconsideration of the Government’s attitude.
The “Gazeta Warszawska” also devotes a great deal of space to fantastic reports of an invasion of Poland by German Jews, who, it describes as threatening the safety of Poland.
In connection with the excesses at Zywiec and the Endek agitation, the Polish Telegraphic Agency reports that the semi-official “Gazeta Polska”, editorially brands the leaders of the Endeks. It declares, “In Poland power reposes in the hands of men strong and balanced, and we shall know how to tame with our fists any symptoms of nationalistic excesses.”
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.
