Serious charges regarding the treatment of Jews in the Polish Army in Russia are made today in the Polish newspaper Nowe Widnokrengi by its editor, Wanda Wasilewska, noted Polish writer.
The article cites specific cases where hundreds of Jews were dismissed from the Polish Army in Russia after serving there for more than a year. This, the writer says, was done to prevent Jews from leaving Russia with their families as part of the Polish armed forces proceeding from Russia to the Middle East. In many cases Jewish soldiers were ejected from military transports departing for the Middle East despite the fact that they had all the necessary documents, the Polish editor charges.
Terming “imaginary” the pretext which was advanced by the Polish authorities that they are compelled to eliminate the Jews from the military units “because of outside pressure,” the article in the Polish paper says that the Russian authorities are putting no pressure upon the Polish military command in Russia and that they are permitting every man in the Polish Army to take along his family when being transported to the Middle East.
The practice of ousting the Jews from the Polish Army in order to bring more Poles from Russia, frequently in place of Jewish men who have been serving in the Polish armed forces since the outbreak of the war, has created “a very bad impression,” Wasilewska writes. “It shows that there are still clements among the Polish people who have not yet forgotten the pre-war atmosphere of racial hatred,” she continues. “These elements do not take cognizance of the slogans proclaimed by the Polish Premier, Gen. Sikorski, who realizes that the future Poland can exist only when moving hand-in-hand with the democracies of the world which condemn racial prejudice.
The article states that Gen. Anders, chief of the Polish Army in Russia, was compelled to issue a special order stating that all Polish citizens must be given equal treatment in the army units in which they serve. “This order, however, remained on paper,” the Nowe Widnokrengi writes, appealing to Poles in Russia to remember the policy of the Polish Government-in-Exile which provides for equal rights for Jews.
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