Polish Consul Says Many More Measures Needed to Improve Jewish Situation

Many more measures to improve the situation of Polish Jews, some classes of whom are especially badly afflicted by the crisis which encompasses virtually all of Poland, will have to be taken, declares the Polish Consul General in New York, Dr. Mieczyslaw Marchlewski, in a statement made to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency today.

Personal observation during a recent stay in Poland has led Dr. Marchlewski to observe, he says “that many classes of the Jewish population are especially badly struck by the economic crisis.”

The Polish Consul General comments that the Polish Government, “although frequently handicapped by serious difficulties, certainly showed many proofs of its friendliness toward the Jews and of its understanding of their problems.” The specially bad situation of the Jews he ascribes as “due to the structure of Jewish economical life in Poland.” “The principle reason,” he says, “for this tragic occurrence, lies in the fact that too large a number of Jews is engaged in intermediate trade.”

He points out that “the very rapid development and modernization of Polish trade, especially through the means of commercial and agricultural co-operatives, makes the Jewish intermediary merchant often superfluous, inasmuch as he mostly represents an antiquated form of small trade.”

It will be decades, according to Dr. Marchlewski, before it will be possible “to change the actual economical structure of Polish Jewry into an efficient, modernized and constructive body,” because as he sees it, “the process of normalization demands not only tremendous sums of money, which today are very scarce everywhere, but also a lot of patience and adaptability.”

He says further that “the many restrictions of the Czarist times were completely abolished, so that there does not exist any legal discrimination.”

Dr. Marchlewski points out that the percentage of Jews in Poland is second only to the percentage of Jews in Palestine, and while the size of the Jewish population makes their problem more

difficult, Poland values the creative talents of the Jews and their ability to contribute to the welfare of the country.

“I frankly admit,” he states, “that much more has to be done in order to improve the situation of Polish Jews, and I declare it not only as a Polish official, but also as a Polish citizen who is most heartily interested in the future of Polish Jewry, that the Government will find a permanent solution of the Jewish problem.”

At the same time, he says, “Everybody must loyally admit that there are practically no classes in Poland that are not affected by the present economical depression and one hears claims and complaints from each section of the population.

“In comparison with the economical situation in other countries, these complaints do not always sound reasonable and justified because the financial structure of Poland in general proves to be sound, as is seen by the unusually small number of banks that went bankrupt, and what is most strikingly proved by the fact that Poland is able to maintain the gold standard of her currency.

“It is certainly true that Polish peasants also share in the difficulties of the present European depression and the same is true as regards the merchant and the industrialist.”

The Jews are absolutely free and independent in the conduct of their religious life and “numerus clausus, which exists in open and in disguised form in many countries, does not exist in Poland.”

Discussing the recurrence of attacks upon Jews in Polish universities, Dr. Marchlewski states that “they were not of a purely anti-Semitic character, but also of an anti-governmental character.

“If there are anti-Semites in Poland,” he states, “then one should not forget that on the other hand the Jews have nowhere such sincere and devoted friends of their cause as among the Polish gentiles with their profound understanding and high esteem for the Jewish soul.”

Continuing, Dr. Marchlewski states: “Any impartial observer must admit that the Government immediately felt its responsibility and acted with energetic and even drastic methods. I certainly deplore these unfortunate occurrences, as does the great majority of the Polish public.

“It is encouraging to notice that the attacked Jewish students were not isolated, but that immediately large numbers of the Polish students took the side of their Jewish colleagues.

“The American students of Polish origin in New York and Chicago sent appeals to the student clubs in Poland for reestablishment of harmony, and requested a constructive solution of the Jewish problem.”