Two Jewish Families Thrown out of Home As Polish Police Refuse to Act

With the connivance of the police authorities and with the approval of government officials, two Jewish families in Wroclaw (Breslau), Poland, were evicted from their home after being brutally assaulted by Polish anti-Semites, according to a report in the latest issue of “Die Folkstimme,” Yiddish-language daily newspaper published in Warsaw.

Under Polish law, Jews repatriated to Poland from the Soviet Union are permitted to occupy homes vacated by Polish Jews who have emigrated to Israel. In the instance reported to “Die Folkstimme” by its Wroclaw correspondent, A. Stark, a Polish-Jewish family named Bornstein left Wroclaw last month for Israel. Before departing, Bornstein turned over his home to two cousins, Joseph Kogut and Samuel Cooper who, with their families, including several young children, had just been repatriated from the Soviet Union.

Stark’s dispatch reports that he had been notified that anti-Semites had broken into the Kogut-Cooper home, smashed the furniture, piled the remainder of the belongings of both families into a dark corridor, and occupied the home. Stark, who visited the Kogut-Cooper home, found a Polish family headed by A. Lubberly in occupation of the home. The police, who had been summoned by Knout were on the threshold, but told Stark their job was only to report to the city prosecutor, but to take no other action.

The secretary of the Wroclaw branch of the United Association of Jewish Cultural Organizations notified the city committee of the Communist Party and the City Council on National Minorities. The latter is a governmental body charged with protecting the rights of minorities, including repatriated Jews.

Spark reports no action taken by the Communist Party leadership of Wroclaw in regard to the clear violation of Communist Party directives. As for the Council on National Minorities, it ruled that the Lubberly family “is entitled to remain in the dwelling” from which the Koguts and Coopers had been illegally evicted. When Kogut asked an official of the Council where the two families would live, the reply was: “When we have a vacant dwelling, we shall notify you.”