The official Polish Telegraphic Agency reported today that the Nazi authorities, in an effort to discourage American efforts to bring relief to Poland, had launched intensified anti-Jewish activities in Warsaw. The agency made public a report received from the Polish Embassy in Rome which stated:
“According to information received by the Polish Embassy at the Quirinal, the Nazis have now doubled their anti-Jewish persecution in Warsaw. This has been done with the aim of counteracting the humanitarian activities of American organizations for Poland.
“One of these organizations has expressed its intention to distribute relief among the population in Poland on the condition that relief be distributed equally among Poles and Jews. This intention gave an opportunity to the Nazis to organize violent anti-Jewish outbreaks which were photographed by Nazi moving-picture photographers.
“The Nazi-organized anti-Jewish demonstrations have a double purpose–firstly, to show America and other neutrals that Poles are organizers of pogroms against Jews and thus deserve no aid and sympathy from abroad; secondly, to increase the tension between the Polish and Jewish populations so that in case of Nazi-provoked anti-Jewish attacks the Nazi authorities will have a pretext for directing their police forces against both Jews and Poles.”
Private reports received in Paris from Nazi-occupied Poland said that the anti-Semitic National Democrats (Endeks) and National Radicals (Naras) were coming to the fore again and were utilizing the general economic dislocation to conduct anti-Jewish propaganda, which, these advices said, played into the hands the Nazis.
An appeal to Poles, both in Poland and abroad, to display more tolerance to the Jews was published by Dr. Herman Lieberman, veteran Socialist leader and vice-president of the Polish National Council at Angers, in the official Socialist weekly, Robotnik, which is now published in Paris. Dr. Lieberman pointed out that Premier Wladislaw Sikorski, in his public addresses, had stressed that the restored Poland would be democratic.
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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.
