Two representatives of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, Dr. Bernhard Kahn and David J. Schweitzer, arrived here today to organize relief for an estimated 22,000 Jews of the eastern city of Brzesc who are either direct or indirect sufferers of last Thursday’s pogrom.
Acquainting themselves with details of the excesses, the officials dispatched first aid and cabled an appeal to the relief body’s headquarters in New York, advising that a large sum was urgently needed to bring the situation in Brzesc back to normal.
The Haintiger Neues, Yiddish morning paper, was confiscated for estimating property damages at three million zlotys (about $600,000). Other papers putting the damages at about $400,000 were not molested.
The full extent of the pogrom’s effects on the 25,000 Jews of the city, which under Russia’s rule was named Brest-Litovsk, was revealed to the American officials.
It has been established that the disorders, precipitated by the fatal stabbing of a policeman who sought to arrest a Jewish butcher, lasted fully 16 hours.
It is estimated that 22,000 of the city’s Jews are actual sufferers, although only 50 were wounded, and have been compelled to resort to charity since their property was almost entirely wiped out.
Worst feature of the riot’s aftermath is the almost complete absence of bread, all 28 of the city’s Jewish bakeries having been destroyed. Poles are assertedly refusing to supply bread to the Jews.
Another serious aspect of the situation is the lack of medical supplies, the only three Jewish chemist shops having been demolished by the rioters.
The 400 Warsaw police, in Brzesc since Friday, are still patrolling the city’s streets which are otherwise virtually deserted.
Jewish newspapers here are publishing appeals for nation-wide fund drives to help restore normalcy in the stricken city. Warsaw Jewish merchants declared a moratorium on collection of debts from Brzesc customers, sending delegations to the city to study the situation.
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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.
