Mass-meeting in England Demands Release of Jewish Soldiers in Polish Army

The immediate release of the 21 Jewish soldiers who have been sentenced by a Polish court-martial to various terms of imprisonment for seeking a transfer from the Polish armed forces into British units because of anti-Semitism in the Polish Army, was demanded tonight in a resolution adopted at a mass-meeting called by the National Council of Civil Liberties in Manchester.

The resolution also demanded that the Jewish soldiers in the Polish Army be given the right “to opt for other Allied armies where they can freely join in the battle against the Fascist tyrants.” It expressed protest against “the perpetuation of anti-Semitism in the ranks of the Polish armed forces.”

The Polish Telegraphic Agency has issued a lengthy report lauding Jewish pilots and navigators in the Polish Air Force. The report emphasizes that some of them have lost their lives in operations against the enemy, while all of them are “intelligent, brave, and eager to go into action.”

In acknowledging the patriotism of the Jews in the Polish flying units, the Polish Telegraphic Agency reveals that a young Jewish flier, Sgt. I. Posner, came from Poland through Lithuania, Russia, Japan and the United States to England to enlist in the Polish Air Force. He was killed flying a Mosquito fighter plane in an air battle over the Bay of Biscay.

Other Polish Jews who distinguished themselves in the air battles are Sgt. M. Glass, navigator, who was lost during a raid on the Ruhr; Flight Sgt. S. Birnholtz, navigator, Flight Sgt. S. Rapaport, radio operator, and Flight Sgt. R. Bychowski, navigator of the Polish Lancaster Squadron. The latter, the Polish Telegraphic Agency reports, also went through many European countries to join the Polish Air Force and completed his training in Canada.