A petition bearing 10,000 signatures and a demand that the Warsaw regime end its harassment of Polish Jews, especially the semi-secret trials of Polish Jewish students, was submitted to Secretary-General U Thant of the United Nations yesterday. The petition was circulated at a Chanukah rally at the Carnegie International Peace Center, opposite UN headquarters. The rally was addressed by Sen. Jacob K. Javits and Rep. William F. Ryan, of New York, who pledged to bring the plight of Polish Jewry to the attention of the State Department and the Polish Embassy in Washington. It was organized by the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry.
The petition listed five demands. The first called for the immediate cessation of the trials of students, mostly Jewish, who were arrested last spring for allegedly fomenting riots in connection with demands for liberal reforms in Poland. The trials, which have been described as “show trials,” are barred to the foreign press. The petition also demanded reinstatement and compensation for Jews dismissed from their jobs and evicted from their homes in Poland’s continuing anti-Semitic campaign; an end to charges that Polish Jews are involved in an alleged “Zionist conspiracy” to subvert Poland; dissolution of the “Jewish Desk” in the Polish Ministry of Interior which is responsible for anti-Semitic propaganda and which tracks down the Jewish ancestry of Polish officials; and the right of emigration for Polish Jews without harassment of person or property.
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