No Antisemitism Now in Poland Head of Nationalities Department Tells J.t.a. Head: Disappearance of a

There has been a change of ideas in regard to the Jews in Polish public opinion, since the victory of Marshal Pilsudski’s ideology, beginning with the rising of May 1926, the Director of the Nationalities Department of the Ministry of the Interior, M. Henrik Muchenek-Suchecki, said when he received to-day Mr. Jacob Landau, the Managing Director of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Mr. B. Smolar, the J.T.A. Special Representative, and Mr. M. Mozes, Director of the J.T.A. in Warsaw.

Gradually, he went on, the new psychology on the Jewish question is filtering through from above to the masses of the people. There is no antisemitism now in Poland, he said. The disappearance of antisemitism is the achievement of the Governments which have been working in the direction of Marshall Pilsudski’s ideology. As soon as Marshal Pilsudski’s ideology had proved victorious in May 1926, an official declaration had been made from the tribune of the Seym that economic antisemitism was harmful to the State.

Questioned about the present critical economic position of the Jewish population of Poland, and the various efforts that are being made to effect an improvement, he explained that this was a matter for the particular Government bodies engaged in economic work. Speaking for myself, he said, I believe that the critical position of the Jews is due to two causes, the chief cause being the faulty and abnormal economic structure of the Jewish population in Poland. There is a lack, for instance, of agricultural elements, and an excessive proportion of small traders. The second cause is the generally difficult economic situation, which leads to the concentration and amalgamation of the economic factors with the result that the big enterprises swallow up the smaller. This is the reason for the hardships of the pauperised petty bourgeoisie, who are being displaced in the trading world. It is the intention of the Government to proceed towards an improvement of the economic position of all citizens of the State, irrespective of nationality or creed.

THE GOVERNMENT VIEW THAT JEWISH COMMUNITIES MUST CONFINE THEMSELVES TO RELIGIOUS ACTIVITIES.

With regard to the regulation of the inner life of the Jewish Community through the Jewish religious communities, he went on, the Government allows complete liberty of action to the administrations of the Jewish Communities. The supervision exercised by the Government authorities over the life of the Jewish Communities is of a general character. The Government is concerned to see that the budgets of the Jewish Communities should be raised properly, and expended properly. For the rest, it is a matter for the Minister of Education and Public Worship, and I can only say, in general terms, that the supervision is directed towards seeing that the Communities allocate their funds in accordance with their competences. If any Community gives financial assistance to enterprises which do not directly come within the sphere of the budgets of the Jewish Communities, thus doing harm to the real work of the Community, the authorities naturally exercise pressure, so that the composition of the budget is changed in the proper direction. It happens sometimes that a Community assumes financial burdens which are outside the scope of the Jewish Communities, and this results in a reduction of the salaries of the Rabbis and of payments to various religious activities. In drawing up the regulations with regard to the economic administration of the affairs of the Jewish Community, the Government insists, even against the will of the Rabbis and the Shochtim, that there should not be such a difference between the price of kosher and non-kosher meat as to compel the poorer Jewish population to pay more for their meat.

The Government treats the Jews as an integral part of the whole population of citizens of the Polish State, he declared in conclusion. The non-partisan bloc collaborating with the Government, with its conception of a political assimilation of all citizens of the State, irrespective of faith or nationality, has proved that it treats the Jews as equal citizens. I am convinced, he added, that the non-partisan bloc collaborating with the Government, which includes among its Parliamentary representatives eight Ukrainians, three White Russians, and four Jews, has opened up a new era of co-operation and political collaboration of all the citizens of the Polish State, without distinction.