Polish Government is Asked to Make Anti-semitic Propaganda a Criminal Offense

The American Representation of the General Jewish Workers’ Union of Poland today announced that it has decided to recommend to the Polish National Council in London, through its representative there, that legislation be adopted making anti-Semitic propaganda a criminal offense, punishable by law.

“Anti-Semitism, so strong in the ranks of reactionary groups in pre-war Poland, has decreased greatly since September, 1939,” the announcement said. “Many of those who were previously influenced by anti-Semitic propaganda, have realized, in view of what has occurred, the falsehood and the detrimental aspect of their former viewpoint. However, certain obstinate reactionary groups among the Poles, on the one side, and the frightful, Jew-baiting Hitler propaganda, on the other, have served to maintain anti-Semitic tendencies among some of the Poles.

“At the present time, when the gruesomely reduced Jewish population of Poland is resisting the oppressors for the sake of sawing those who have remained, even the slightest trace of anti-Semitism is a menace to their safety,” the statement continues. “Particularly since every German massacre of Jews is accompanied by a wave of anti-Semitism designed to arouse the Polish populace against the Jews. Under such circumstances. Polish governmental agencies should denounce anti-Semitism as a fighting weapon of the enemy, as something from which every Polish citizen must refrain. A law against anti-Semitism, which would be passed now by the Polish Government, would strengthen Polish Jewry morally and thus would strengthen their resistance to the Hitler hordes, who are executing a plan of systematic murder of the Jewish population,” the statement further points out.