Priest Ordered to Leave Fete for Slur on Jews

(J. T. A. Mail Service)

A priest who had come from Pinsk to the little town of Droghiszyn near by to consecrate a memorial erected to the fallen of 1830, the time of the Polish Insurrection against Czar Nicholas I around which the local celebrations of the tenth anniversary of the Republic were centered, was ordered by the District Chief to leave, because he had insulted the Jews in his consecration speech.

There had been a procession of the entire population, including the Jews, to the memorial. The representatives of the Jewish community and various Jewish organizations were standing with other representatives at the foot of the memorial, while crowds of Jews were standing near with the others. In the course of his address, the priest suddenly cried out: “Guard this memorial! See that the Jews do not defile it, as they did in Lodz.”

There was a storm of protest, not only by the Jews, but by a large part of the general population. After they had laid their wreath at the foot of the memorial, the Jewish representatives left demonstratively, stating that they refused to take any further part in the celebrations. The District Chief and the District Police Commandant hastened to the Rabbi, and asked him to convey their apologies to the Jewish population, and plead with them to return and participate further in the celebrations. The Jews said that they would return if the priest who had insulted them would be told to leave. The authorities agreed to this, and the Jews returned to their place in the procession, which then marched to the new park which was opened that day, named in honor of Marshal Pilsudski.

The District Chief afterwards took occasion at the demonstration held in the Town Hall that evening to allude to the incident, condemning severely the action of the priest. He would never allow the Chauvinists, he said, to poison the good relations existing between the various sections of the population of the town and to do damage to the good name of the Republic.