Legislation restricting participation of Jews in the nation’s economic life, similar to that recently adopted by the Hungarian Parliament and along the lines suggested early this week by the Government’s Camp of National Unity, was foreshadowed today by Polish newspapers.
According to the papers, a special committee of the Camp is preparing bills providing for restrictions on Jews in the various spheres of activities, with the professions first on the list.
“The bills,” declares Goniec Warszawski, “will not be on the lines of the Nuremberg laws, but will be similar in spirit to the Hungarian Jewish law.” (The Hungarian bill, passed by both houses of Parliament and now awaiting Regent Nicholas Horthy’s signature, provides 20 per cent quotas for Jews in industry, commerce, the theatrical profession and journalism.)
The legislation will take such form, the newspaper adds, since the Camp rejects racialism and does not want complete exclusion of Jews from public life. It is rumored that the bills will be introduced in June, but it is more probable that action will be deferred until the Autumn session.
Constitutional guarantees of equality, the newspapers assert, will not interfere with the projected measures since the Camp is prepared even to introduce necessary changes in the Constitution to ensure their adoption in a legal manner. It is not expected that initiative for the legislation will come from the Government itself, since the Camp majority in the upper and lower houses of Parliament is sufficient to put the measures through.
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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.
