The Workmen’s Circle has rejected an invitation from the Polish government to participate in the government-sponsored commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising next April and has urged all other Jewish organizations to do the same.
Dr. Israel Kugler, president of the Jewish labor fraternal order, cited among other things the Workmen’s Circle’s support of the Polish Solidarity movement, outlawed by the regime of Wojciech Jaruzelski. He said the invitation was extended through “a Polish government puppet front — the Jewish Cultural Farband.”
“As supporters of Polish Solidarity who have witnessed the repressive measures exhibited by the Jaruzelski regime, we cannot and will not permit ourselves to be exploited. Nor do we wish to see kindred Jewish organizations equally exploited for the hypocritical purposes such participation would mask,” Kugler said.
He noted that the Jaruzelski government “and predecessor Polish Communist governments have a long history of anti-Semitic actions which drove out the remnant of surviving Polish Jews, purged members from its own political ranks just because they were Jews, and revived the notorious Grunwald movement to use anti-Semitism against the free trade union movement–Solidarnocz — Solidarity.”
Kugler said his organization would support “all legitimate commemorations” of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising “in those countries where democracy is practiced.” It is supporting the American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors in Washington April 11-14.
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