The police and clergy acted in unison to stop as well as prevent further disturbances of an anti-Jewish nature which occurred on Wednesday, March 27, during Purim celebrations at Bialoczow, district of Opoczno.
Several scores of the Jewish residents were reported to have been the victims of attacks which were the result of excitement because of the traditional Jewish Purim plays. Several accounts are current as to their origin and cause.
The “Slowo Radomskie,” an oppositional paper, published a sensational account of the event, which led to confiscation of the issue by the authorities, according to the Polish Telegraphic Agency. The paper reported that the disturbances were caused by “a provocative action on the part of the Jewish population.”
To the correspondent of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency the district Chief of Police stated over the long distance telephone that the riots were the result of a skirmish between Purim players and a number of Polish young men in the street. The police intervened immediately and restored order, he stated.
The district chief of police of Opoczno headed a commission which proceeded to Bialoczow to investigate the matter. The Catholic authorities instructed the local clergymen to pacify the population, as it was established officially that the events were the result of a planned provocation.
The Ministry of the Interior at Warsaw issued a statement today giving some details of what occurred. According to that statement, the villagers attacked a group of Purim players who carried an effigy of Haman, which they used in the play they presented, going from house to house in the traditional manner. When attacked, the Purim (Continued on Page 4)
players fled, leaving the effigy in the street. Unknown provacators picked up the effigy and nailed it to a piece of wood arranged as a cross, thus creating the impression that the Purim players profaned the symbol of the founder of Christianity. When this false rumor was spread, the population was aroused and the attack on Jewish homes ensued.
Windows in seventeen Jewish homes were smashed. No casualties were reported, according to the Ministry.
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