Jewish Deputies Uncertain in Therir Attitude to New Lithuanian Government

Jewish Telegraphic Agency Mail Service)

The united front of the Minorities in Lithuania no longer exists, Dr. Robinson, President of the Jewish Club of Deputies in Lithuania, stated in a press interview here. The bloc of the minorities was established in support of the previous government which was overthrown by the recent coup d’etat. In practice, howeverm, unity still existed among the minorities, although it could not be denied that on some important points of policy, several of the minority factions were acting without informing the other minorities of what they were doing, he stated.

The attitude of the Government toward the problem of the minorities has not yet been determined, Dr. Robinson continued. On the one hand, the Premier, Dr. Waldermaras, declared that the minority problem should be regulated by the passing of special laws, a statement which ought to be welcomed by the minorities. On the other hand, however, there is a certain amount of hesitation in regard to the question of fulfilling the demands of the minorities.

“As for the Jews, we are aware,” Dr. Robinson said, “that the Premier framed the Minorities Declaration to the Peace Conference in Versailles and we are also aware that on his first apperance in the Sejm he praised the Jewish minority in Lithuania. Whether the Premier of 1927 will follow the policy of the Premier of 1920 and the Sejm Deputy of 1926 the future alone can show.”

Speaking of his participation in the historic sitling of the Sejm at which the new President of the Republic was elected. Dr. Robinson said that he had attended the sitting because he believed that the political situation in the country demanded his attendance and because he believed that by being present he had served the best interests of the Jewish population He wanted to avoid any misinterpretation of the real attitude of the Jewish population which might have arisen if there had been no Jew present at the meeting of the Sejm. The absence of the Jews might have been interpreted as an expression of uncompromising hostility on the part of the Jews of Lithuania towards the new Government. There are certainly some sections of the Jewish population who were in no way hostile to the new regime and were anxious to wait and see what the future would bring, he said.