Jewish Sailors Tried by Polish Court Martial; One-third of Transferees in Combat Units

Three Jewish sailors in the Polish Navy were recently tried by a Polish court-martial sitting in a southeastern English port, it was revealed today in the House of Commons during a resumption of the debate on anti-Semitism in the Polish forces. The court’s verdict is not known.

Presenting further evidence of anti-Jewish incidents in the Polish Army, which culminated last week in the sentencing of 21 Jews to terms ranging from one year to two years imprisonment on charges of leaving Polish units and attempting to enlist in the British forces, Tom Driberg, Independent, told Commons that he had received a letter from a Jewish chaplain in the British Army revealing the court-martial of the sailors.

The chaplain, Driberg said, had requested permission from the Polish authorities to attend the court-martial when he learned that no Polish Jewish chaplain was available, but his request was refused. Driberg also reported that “one of the ablest Jewish doctors in the Polish Army” recently committed suicide after his repeated requests for a transfer to a British unit had been rejected. The doctor was a veteran of the campaign in France, he said.

Driberg declared that he has received “excellent reports” concerning the 207 Jews who have been transferred from Polish to British units. One-third of them, he said, have already been placed in combat units at their own request, indicating that in leaving the Polish Army they were not attempting to evade active service.

Replying to Driberg, George Hall, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of the Foreign Office, reiterated the British Government’s refusal to allow any further transfers from the Polish forces. It is unfair, Hall said, to say that all Jews in the Polish Army are dissatisfied, “since from November, 1940 until February, 1944, only 17 Jews deserted.”