The anti-Jewish propaganda campaign launched by Poland’s Communist regime during its current state of martial law was deplored and condemned today by the Polish American Congress (PAC).
Michael Preisler, president of the PAC’s downstate New York division, characterized the introduction of anti-Semitism by the military junta as “a calculated tactic of the ‘state of war’ declared by Soviet puppets against Solidarity and the people of Poland.”
“The primary purpose of their strategy is to deceive and divide those throughout the world who support Solidarity and oppose the present reign of terror,” he said.” Because Jews have always valued the cause of human rights and civil liberties they found the freedom movement in Poland particularly attractive and have been in sympathy with it from its very inception.”
Preisler believes that the Communists, by raising the specter of anti-Semitism in Poland, hope to alienate and discourage those who stand ready to help the Polish people in the crisis the government help the Polish people in the crisis the government has created. “The Soviet influence is readily apparent,” he said.
A Roman Catholic and a member of the Polish underground during the German occupation. Preisler spent four years in the Auschwitz death camp. To his Nazi captors he was known as No. 22213 which they permanently inscribed on his left forearm.
“The past weeks have been exceptionally traumatic for me,” he declared. “With new concentration camps on Polish soil, the midnight knock on the door by the security police and the incessant propaganda, it’s as if the gestapo was back again in my homeland.”
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
