A demand that the Jews be expelled from Poland “because they rob the Poles of their bread,” was presented to the Budget Commission of the Polish Sejm yesterday by the National Democratic Deputy Wierczak.
A Jewish population of 4,000,000 is too great for Poland to support, the anti-Semitic deputy asserted. For this reason the Jewish question cannot be eliminated from Polish life as it cannot be eliminated from the life of many countries in Europe, he said.
He further charged the Jews with attacking Polish students in Lemberg, Warsaw and other cities and with responsibility for the recent anti-Semitic riots.
Minister of Interior Pieracki scored the National Democrats for nurturing Polish youth on anti-Semitism. This is contrary to law, he stated, and the authorities will therefore suppress anti-Semitic riots.
The Minister of Interior, referring to the recent anti-Semitic excesses, declared that their extent and gravity had been exaggerated by “a nervous Jewish press.”
Amid jeers and interruptions by the National Democratic Deputies, Dr. Heinrich Rosmarin, vice-president of the Club of Jewish Deputies in the Polish Sejm, replied to Wierczak, scoring the National Democrats and the government.
The Jewish deputy arraigned the National Democrats for their agitation among the masses to seek revenge against the Jews as responsible for Poland’s economic crisis.
The central authorities were criticized by him for permitting the continuance in office of the district Governor of Vilna who allowed the riots to continue in Lemberg for five days. He protested against the confiscation of the Jewish press for publishing reports of the riots, while the Polish papers were permitted to print what they chose in the same connection.
Dr. Rosmarin also utilized the occasion to criticize the government’s general policy with regard to the Jewish Community in Poland.
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.
