Indifference of World to Jewish Fate in Poland Caused Zygelbojm’s Suicide

Samuel Zygelbojm, the Jewish member of the Polish National Council who committed suicide here last week, took his life in protest against the indifference of the democratic world to the fate of the Jews in occupied Poland who are being exterminated by the Nazis without mercy, it was reliably learned today.

Letters explaining the motives for his act were left by him and will be released by the authorities after tomorrow’s inquest. They were addressed to the Polish President Raczkiewicz and to the Polish Prime Minister Gen. Sikorski. In these letters Zygelbojm is reported to have stated that he decided to take his life not for any personal motives, but solely as a means of protesting against the fact that nothing is being done to save Polish Jews from Nazi slaughter.

Zygelbojm’s funeral will take place on Friday and his body will be cremated. Members of the Polish cabinet will be among the speakers at the funeral. The speakers will also include Stanislaw Grabski, president of the Polish National Council. A joint statement of mourning issued here by leaders of the labor movement in France, Holland, Belgium and Czechoslovakia expresses grief over “the loss of a comrade and co-worker.”

Earlier reports that Zygelbojm’s wife and daughter were killed in the Warsaw ghetto are baseless, judging from the letters Zygelbojm left. He reveals in these letters that he recently learned that his family is safe “somewhere in Europe.”

A list of prominent Jewish poets, writers, journalists, social workers, youth leaders and leaders of the cooperative movement who perished during the liquidation of the Warsaw ghetto reached the Polish Government here today through underground channels. Among those killed was the noted Orthodox writer and philosopher Hillel Zeitlin. Additional lists of well known Jewish figures who were murdered in the ghetto are expected to be received soon.