Jewish Conference in Poland Hears Reports on Maltreatment of Jews

Details about the maltreatment of Jews in Poland who have recently been repatriated by the Soviet Union were voiced last week at a special conference of district secretaries of the Lower Silesian Association of Jewish Cultural Organizations, held in Wroclaw (formerly Breslau), Poland.

A report about the conference was received here today from Warsaw. Lower Silesia, former German territory now under Polish jurisdiction, is one of the principal areas designated by the present Polish Government for settlement of Jewish repatriates sent back from the Soviet Union.

One of the speakers at the conference, M. Yakubovitch, of Walbzych, reported that, of 30 families of Jewish repatriates sent to his town, only three families have been assigned dwellings. He criticized the government’s Council on National Minorities and the leadership of the Polish Communist Party for “leaving much to be desired” in their attitude toward the Jewish repatriates.

Another local secretary, H. Rutenberg, of Lignicz, told the conference that there was no housing problem for the Jewish repatriates in his district, but that, on the other hand, they are finding it difficult to find jobs. “Of 400 repatriated Jewish families in Lignicz,” he declared, “only a small handful have found work.”

The housing condition in Wroclaw itself was described as very grave. The capital of the entire Lower Silesian province, Wroclaw has, according to the reports, attracted more than 400 repatriated Jewish families, “but only one Jewish family has been able to get a home in Wroclaw. The situation in Wroclaw is very serious,” the conference was told, and the fault was laid squarely by the local secretary at the door of the local government Council on National Minorities.