A demand that the Jews in the ghettos of Poland be considered “prisoners of war” and be sent food and medicine in the same way that this is done for soldiers captured on the battlefield, was voiced today in a motion presented in the Polish National Council by Samuel Zygelbaum, Jewish Socialist deputy. The motion was also signed by Dr. Ignacy Schwartzbart, the other Jewish member of the Council, and by the Socialist deputies Ciolksz and Szerer and the Peasant Party deputy Zaremba.
The Zygelbaum motion asks the Council to go on record to the effect that “efforts made hitherto to provide food and medicine to the people of Poland are insufficient and disproportionate with their dire needs and our duties.” Referring to conditions in the ghettos, the motion stresses the fact that the Nazis allow the Jews only the barest minimum of food and medicine and that mass executions, forced labor, concentration camps and hunger have become the paramount instrument for the extermination of the Jewish population.
“The Council is, therefore, asked to request of the United Nations that Poland’s population, especially the Jews in the ghettos, be considered as prisoners of war and to ask the Polish government to take steps, accordingly, to send food and medicine to Poland and to the ghettos, providing it is assured that the provisions sent are used by the starving populations and not diverted by the Nazis to their own use,” the motion states.
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.
