Four hundred students staged a sackcloth and chains demonstration at the Polish United Nations mission here today to memorialize the Nazi destruction of Polish Jewry and to focus attention on the continuing imprisonment of Jewish professors and students for their role in the March demonstrations against the Polish Government.
Jacob Birnbaum, coordinator of the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry, sponsor of the demonstration, said a list of names of the professors and students would be sent to the Polish mission and the UN Commission on Human Rights with a request for an investigation. The group said it was concerned about reports that the imprisoned Polish Jews would be prosecuted at a “show trial” to be staged by Gen. Mieczyslaw Moczar, the Polish Interior Minister believed to be the leader of the anti-Jewish campaign in Poland. Many demonstration participants wore sackcloth and chains and sat on low chairs. A special prayer was recited for the six million Jews murdered by the Nazis. Portions were read from diaries of Holocaust victims and survivors, Paul O’Dwyer, the Democratic candidate for Senator, told the gathering that the Polish Government was “foolish” to blame a few Jews for the anti-Government demonstrations. Rep. Leonard Farbstein, N.Y. Democrat, said the Polish “injustice” should not go unanswered.
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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.
