The nationalization process in Soviet-occupied Poland is in full swing despite a pre-plebiscite promise that it would be deferred for three years, it was reliably learned today. The disclosure was made in the course of an interview given this correspondent by a Jewish personality who was prominent in the social and economic life of pre-war Poland.
Nationalization is being carried out in three stages, according to this informant. In the first are the landowners, among whom were many Jews. Industrialists comprise the second, with merchants and house owners in the third.
Jews have been particularly hard hit in the process, which has created a large category of declassed, the informant declared, who are unable to reenter economic life since the authorities have forbidden Jewish organizations to carry on retraining and emigration activities.
One of the worst phases of the Jewish position, he said, is the ban on emigration, violations of which carry a penalty of 15 years in prison at hard labor. Not even foreigners are permitted to leave. Twenty-five to 30 Britons and Palestinians were permitted to leave only after intervention by the British Ambassador at Moscow.
The frontiers are guarded by reinforced patrols which use bloodhounds brought from Russia. Several hundred persons caught trying to escape to Rumania and Hungary were robbed of all their possessions and imprisoned.
Many political leaders, the informant revealed, have also been arrested and denunciations are going on continuously. Rabbi Moses Schorr, former Chief Rabbi of Warsaw, and Deputy Emil Sommerstein are still imprisoned in Lwow.
Between Dec. 15 and Jan. 1 all males of 18 to 50, including refugees from western Poland, were registered for military service. Refugee delegations protesting the registration of Polish citizens were told that Poland no longer existed.
The position of thousands of declassed Jews was stated to be most critical, with starvation looming in the face of dwindling food supplies and soaring prices.
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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.
