So many Jews have emigrated from Poland in the last year that many of the government-sponsored Yiddish schools are in danger of closing due to lack of pupils and disorganization of teaching staffs according to Die Folkstimme, Yiddish-language daily newspaper published in Warsaw.
An article which discussed the need for electing Jews repatriated from the Soviet Union to offices in Parent-Teacher Organizations noted that “Some schools have passed through a critical period. There was a question as to whether these schools would continue to operate this year. In nearly all of the Yiddish schools, the student population has changed in character, while the teaching staffs also underwent vast changes.”
COMPLAIN OF CONDITIONS AT LODZ SCHOOL
In a report from Lodz, the paper complained that the Yiddish school in that city, one of the largest Jewish centers in Poland, is located in cramped quarters in a run-down tenement district, while the city’s Jewish Center occupies “a private home, old and dirty, with cracked walls that haven’t been cleaned for years.
According to this report, a decision to assign another building for the Jewish Center was taken by city authorities three years ago. Nearly a year ago, a building vacated by a government agency was designated for occupancy by the Center after renovations, However, the paper reported, neither the organized Jewish community leaders, nor the city, nor the government building authorities have been in a hurry to complete the renovations. “Meanwhile, Lodz Jews complain, their Center occupies the old, unsatisfactory site.
As for the school it houses 12 class, the report states some of which are conducted in the corridors The neighborhood is entirely undesirable for a school.” The report also pointed to the drop in the Jewish population-due, evidently, to the emigration of many Polish Jews to Israel. The school had planned to conduct 16 classes this year, according to the Lodz report, but there were enough children for only 12 classes by the time the school year opened.
Another article in the paper contained a plea by an economist, Bernard Gruess, for compilation of accurate statistics about the repatriated Jews. There are no accurate, official figures about the repatriates-as to their number, where they have settled, whether they have obtained dwellings or jobs or any income whatever, “he complained.”
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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.
