Sixty Jewish refugees from Poland evacuated to Barnaul, Siberia, today addressed a letter to Jewish organizations in the United States and England complaining of ill-treatment by the representative of the Polish Government in Barnaul and asking them to intervene with the Polish authorities for his removal.
The Polish representative, Pastelnik, is accused of stimulating anti-Semitism among the Polish refugees in Barnaul district and of discriminating against Jews in the distribution of relief. The letter of the Jewish refugees emphasizes that they complained to the Polish embassy in Kuibyshev on two occasions but received no reply.
As a result of the activities of Pastelnik, among the Polish refugees, slogan such as “Death to Jews” and “Poland must have no Jews” have been revived among the Poles in the Barnaul district, the letter charges. Polish children are educated in an anti-Jewish spirit by their Polish teachers despite the fact that anti-Semitism is prohibited on Russian soil. In the distribution of relief, the letter points out, the Polish official has introduced four categories. The first to receive relief coming from abroad are Polish nobility, the second are other Polish “Aryans,” the third category consists of “privileged Jews” such as Pastelnik’s tailor, barber and others who serve him, while all other Jews are in the fourth and last category.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
