Gruenbaum’s Criticism of Polish Government Unjust, Says Minister of Interior

Says Pilsudski Government Gave 600,000 Jews Citizenship Status (Jewish Telegraphic Agency)

The criticism leveled against the present Polish government by Deputy Isaac Greunbaum for its attitude toward the problems of the Jewish population in Poland and for alleged failure to take action for the solution of these problems is without foundation.

This view was stressed by General Skladkowski, Minister of the Interior. who took the floor at the Sejm budget commission to reply to the criticism of Deputy Greunbaum at a previous session when the two clashed on this point. The present Government feels obliged to combat the jingoism of both the Polish and the Jewish nationalism. he stated. It is quite understandable why Deputy Greunbaum, an oppositionist, bases his argument on many trivialities. He should not, however, permit himself to stress an untruth that the Government has done nothing to alleviate the condition of the Jews.

Two years ago there were in the Eastern Provinces of the Republic hundreds of thousands of Jews who were legally in the position of men without a country, and, in accordance with prevalent regulations they were liable to deportation to Soviet Russia. It was the Pilsudaki government which has granted the status of citizenship to 600,000 Jews. The question is then, does Deputy Greunbaum also speak in the name of those Jews’s the minister asked.

## number of minor anti-Semitic incidents which were immediately quelled. The government has intervened in the attempt to distribute in Posen a picture purporting to show a ritual murder. It also intervened against the agitation of the “Sabbath Courier,” anti-Semitic paper of Bromberg. Deputy Gruenbaum, however, failed to mention the new understanding between Poles and Jews along economic lines, which has recently found expression in the elections held in the chambers of commerce and artisans associations.

The government has regulated the status of the Kehillahs. Deputy Gruenbaum charged that because of government measures to introduce modern machinery in bakeries in the Brest region, Jewish bakers have suffered. The fact of the matter is, however, that the same regulations were applied in the provinces of Posen and Upper Silesia where there are no Jewish bakeries. It cannot then be charged that the regulations have the purpose of hurting Jews.

Deputy Gruenbaum replied to the Minister’s remarks. He stated he was in doubt whether the statement that 600,000 Jews in the Eastern provinces were granted citizenship, as there are not so many Jews in that region. The situation of the Jewish population in Poland may be improved only through action, not by words alone. Until now we have heard only words, Deputy Gruenbaum asserted.