Economic Position of Jews in Poland Very Difficult Minister of Interior Admits in J.t.a. Interview:

The economic position of the Jewish population of Poland is very difficult, the Minister of the Interior, General Skladkowski, admitted in the course of an interview which he has given here to Mr. Jacob Landau, the Managing Director of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Mr. B. Smolar, the J.T.A. Special Representative, and Mr. M. Mozes, the Director of the Warsaw Office of the J.T.A. This is largely due, however, he continued, to the general economic depression in the country, from which the entire population is suffering. But no one, he added, is dying yet of starvation in Poland. Food is very cheap here, he said. The price of potatoes, for instance, is so low that sometimes the farmers do not find it worth going to the expense of digging them up, so that they are left in the fields for anyone to take who wishes. I am sure, the Minister declared, that as soon as we get an improvement in the general economic situation in Poland, we shall have together with it an improvement also in the economic position of the Jewish population.

As a national minority, the Jews of Poland take an active part in the local government of the country, the Minister continued. Relations between the Polish and Jewish populations are such that there are Jewish representatives holding responsible positions as vice-mayors, aldermen, etc., who exercise their powers in the direction of ensuring equal treatment to all citizens of their town or city, without distinction of religion.

On the question of Zionism, the Minister said that he followed the movement with lively sympathy, to which he had more than once given expression. I know, he said, that notwithstanding the economic depression, the Jewish population has not ceased collecting funds for Palestine, and the Zionist Organisation encounters no obstacles in this activity. I am an opponent, however, he added, of extreme nationalism, which I consider harmful, whether it is Polish nationalism or Jewish. If the national chauvinism of some of the Jewish representatives among the Zionist leaders in Poland, or of some of the representatives of the Polish population threatens to create a breach between the Polish and Jewish populations, it is naturally our duty to exercise proper influence in order to stem this exaggerated nationalism on both sides.

Dealing with the objections raised in some Jewish quarters to the new Government regulations relating to the Jewish Community elections, which empower the election commissions to take away the vote from members of the Jewish Community who are hostile to religion, the Minister said that the Government does not, on principle, interfere in matters affecting the internal life of the Jewish population. My opinion is, he said, that if such a provision has been inserted in the regulations, it was done only because of the desire of the Government to protect the religious character of the Jewish Communities, in accordance with the basic idea of the law governing the Jewish religious communities in Poland and on the ground of representations made by the representatives of that part of the Jewish population which is mostly interested in upholding the religious character of the Jewish Communities. In giving the election commissions power to take away the vote from persons who are definitely hostile to religion, the Government desired to prevent the disruption of Jewish communal life by the extreme radical elements, like the Communists, whose presence in the Jewish religious communities would be in conflict with the very basis of Jewish communal life, and whose tactics are aimed at outraging the religious feelings of the Jewish population.