Medieval Restrictions Against Jews Still in Force in Poland Says Deputy Sommerstein Spokesman for Je

Right up to the present day the medieval restrictions against the Jewish population of Poland continue in force, Deputy Sommerstein, the spokesman of the Club of Jewish Deputies, said speaking in the Seym in today’s debate on the Government Bill for the abolition of the Czarist restrictions, moved by Deputy Jeszke, the Rapporteur of the Juridical Committee as the first item on the agenda, for the purpose, he explained, of giving effect to the provisions of the Constitution relating to the equality of all citizens before the law.

It is a question, Deputy Sommerstein said, not only of a Constitutional duty to the Jewish population, but of the honour and the prestige of the Polish State, which could not permit a state of affairs in which the old Czarist laws continue to be in force.

The Jews will not stop here, Deputy Sommerstein went on. We shall continue our fight to have all the provisions of the Constitution relating to the rights of the Jews as citizens, and as a minority carried into effect. So far, a whole series of points in the Constitution concerning the Jewish school system, the Jewish Communities and the Jewish right to work, have been allowed to remain as a dead letter. We Jews demand our rights, he declared, and the Club of Jewish Deputies will not cease from its fight so long as these rights have not been given full realisation.

Deputy Jaszwinski, of the National Democratic Party, moved that the Bill should be referred back to the Commission, complaining that it was not altogether clear what it was intended to achieve. The National Democratic Party, he said, was not against matter to be formulated more clearly.

The Priest Czau, one of the Deputies of the Government Party, said that he was very happy that this bill had been brought up, abolishing not only the restrictions against the Jews, but also the legal restrictions against the Roman Catholic Church enforced by the Czarist regime.

Deputy Bitner, of the Christian Democratic Party, said that his Party supported the National Democratic motion for referring the Bill back to the Commission. The Roman Catholic Church, he claimed, is still burdened with certain legal restrictions dating back to the days of the Czarist regime, and the Bill was not altogether clear about what was going to be done with these restrictions. The Polish Catholic people, he said, have at least the same rights as the Jews to have the provisions in the Constitution relating to their rights put into effect.

Deputy Minzberg, of the Agudath Israel, who is one of the Jewish members of the Government Party, also spoke in the debate, saying that the Jews were grateful to the Government for its action in introducing this bill for the abolition of the anti-Jewish restrictions.