Polish Consul General Jan Galewicz, in a statement issued today through the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, denied American press reports that Jews in Poland are no longer permitted to emigrate from the country. He emphasized that certain modifications have been made in the procedure for issuing exit passports, put said that they apply to Jews as well as to all other citizens of Poland. During the last three month3 of 1947 more than 1,200 passports have been issued to Jews in eland for travel abroad, he revealed.
The full text of the statement reads:
“The American press published lately reports which seem to imply that the polish Government has discontinued the issuance of passports to Polish Jews, making at impossible for them to go abroad. In connection with this, I wish to state that much intonation are completely unfounded.
“In Poland, like in all other countries, the issuance of passports for travel abroad is subject to special laws and regulations. One of the provisions of these regulations is that before applying for an emigration passport the applicant must present a satisfactory evidence that an entry visa will be granted to him by the country to which he intends to emigrate.
“Until recently, the Polish authorities considered an affidavit as a sufficient proof that a foreign visa would be obtained by the person applying for a passport. that is well known, however, that only a limited number of persona who are in possession of affidavits succeed in the end, and this only after long delays, in obtaining immigration visas. For this reason, it has been lately decided that passports will the issued only upon the presentation by the interested person of a letter with a written promise of an immigration visa. Such written “visa promises” are given, for instance, by the American consulates in all cases in which a favorable decision concerning the granting of a visa had been reached.
“The requirement making the issuance of passports conditional upon the presentation of a written promise of a visa applies to Jews as well as to all other citizens of Poland.
“In view of the above it must be stated that, as far as Polish passport regulations are concerned, no special obstacles exist which would limit or make impossible emigration of Polish Jews to other countries. The best proof of this is that during the last three months of 1947 – 1,218 Polish passports were issued to Jews for travel abroad.
“As far as chances of departure to Palestine are concerned, Poland, who at a member of UNO sessions was the first to stress her approach to the question of Palestine and the Jewish rights to possess a homeland, has certainly no intention to put many barriers before these Jews who in spite of the definite stabilization and progress of Jewish life in Poland and the complete warranting of development in political, economic, religious and cultural life, wish to leave the country.”
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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.
