The plight of the Jews in Poland results from the Polish Government’s conscious effort to make the country a great power by Polonizing domains still held by minorities. Otto D. Tolischus said today in the second of a series of dispatches to the New York Times from Warsaw.
This policy, he said, bears down on all national minorities, which comprise no less than 31 per cent of the population, but particularly on the Jews, who are largely concentrated in urban areas and in commerce, industry and the professions.
Presenting figures to demonstrate the disproportionate representation of the Jews in urban populations, he said the Government had a double aim — “first to care for the Polish surplus population, if necessary at the sacrifice of the Jews, and second to Polonize towns as well as commerce, trade and industry, thereby creating a Polish middle class that, like the middle class in all other countries, will be the banner bearer of the new Polish nationalism.”
No less than 30 per cent of the urban population, according to Mr. Tolischus’ figures. Put in another way, 86 per cent of all Polish Jews live in towns and cities. Jews control 60 to 65 per cent of all trade and commerce and 40 per cent of all medium and small industries, He added that this distribution did not mean that the Jews were opulent, because the average income was low and most Jews in trade were small shopkeepers with a high percentage of peddlers.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
