Polish Cabinet Members Decide to Aid Jews Repatriated from Russia

Members of the Polish Cabinet met with leaders of the Jewish communities in Poland to discuss improvements in the situation of Polish Jews repatriated from the Soviet Union, it was reported here today from Warsaw.

The report said that the conference took place under the chairmanship of Vice Premier Z. Novak and lasted more than four hours during which the Jewish representatives stressed that the repatriates suffer severely from lack of housing and find it difficult to secure jobs even when they are qualified workers.

As a result of the conference, the Polish Government decided to act to alleviate the situation of the Jews, all of whom must remain in Poland now, since the Soviet Government insists that no Jew repatriated from Russia to Poland be permitted to emigrate from Poland. Among the measures decided upon, the report says, are the following:

1. To combat actively discrimination against repatriated Jews by cooperative shops and other employing organizations. At the same time, to facilitate the formation of cooperative shops by repatriated Jewish workers and artisans.

2. To speed up the transfer into dwellings of more than 1,000 repatriated Jews who are still living in repatriation centers. Also to permit the many Jewish repatriates in various cities in Poland to remain in the homes into which they moved without permission from the local authorities.

The situation of the Jewish repatriates in Poland is especially difficult since many of them, being qualified workers, left Russia for Poland under the impression that they would find work in Poland. Most of them also anticipated moving from Poland to Israel. In either event, they find themselves jobless and forced to remain in Poland, being largely dependent on meager community relief.