Polish Envoy Walks out of Meeting Honoring Warsaw Ghetto Martyrs

Ambassador Edward Drozniak, Polish envoy to the United States, walked out demonstratively from a memorial meeting here honoring the martyrs of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, it was reported today in the current issue of The Sentinel, local English-Jewish weekly. More than 2,200 persons attended the meeting, where the Polish Ambassador was one of the speakers.

The Polish diplomat and other Polish officials marched out of the hall in protest against charges that Poles had stood by while the Nazi army was completing preparations to demolish the Warsaw ghetto. The charge was voiced by Herman Shumlin, producer of the controversial play “The Deputy, “who was also a speaker at the meeting.

Mr. Chumlin read to the audience an actual statement by Cardinal Hlond which he said was typical of the attitude taken by many Poles during that period, in which the prelate stated that “it is an actual fact that Jews fight against the Catholic Church- they are userers, immoral, live by trickery and deceit…” and listed a whole score of anti-Semitic canards.

“At this point, ” Sentinel editor J.I. Fishbein reported, “the Polish Ambassador to the United States, Edward Drozniak who had spoken previously, began to protest. Mr. Shumlin turned to the audience and asked whether he should stop speaking or continue. Shouts of “go on” and applause resounded through the hall,

“He went on to tell how on the final day of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, the Germans mounted their cannons in preparation for their annihilation of the few houses still standing. Poles by the thousands, in festive attire, stood outside the ghetto walls awaiting the end. At this point, the Polish Ambassador, his wife and their attache rose from their seats on the platform and marched out of the hall.”