Polish Envoy in Washington Denies Anti-semitism in Poland Drive

Ambassador Jerzy Michalowski, the Polish Ambassador in Washington “strongly denied” during the course of a one-hour meeting yesterday any anti-Semitism on the part of his government during the recent student disorders in Poland. He said that Wladyslaw Gomulka, chairman of the United Workers (Communist) Party, had tried to reduce tensions arising out of charges that Jews were responsible for the present turmoil in the country. The envoy’s statements were quoted today by Rabbi Herschel Schacter, chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations.

Rabbi Schacter reported to a meeting of the conference on his confrontation with the Polish envoy during which, he disclosed, he voiced “deep concern” that the anti-Semitic campaign in Poland had not abated despite the Gomulka speech. He stressed, he said, that the Gomulka assurances meant little unless translated into action. This, he said, would mean an end to the denunciation of Jews as “Zionists.” “Stalinists” and “Revisionists.” It also required, he said, that Jews wishing to emigrate may do so without “public harassment,” and that Jews be permitted to display sympathy for Israel without being subjected to official attack.

“Ambassador Michalowski has pledged that the Gomulka regime stands firmly opposed to any anti-Semitism,” Rabbi Schacter said. “We welcome this pledge but until the government takes firm and vigorous steps to end the resort to anti-Semitism as a weapon in the social and political turmoil now sweeping Poland, American Jews and men of good will everywhere will continue to speak. We shall not be silenced. We shall not rest until the Jews of Poland may live and work in dignity and security or emigrate without fear of reprisal.”