The Jewish community of Poland was heartened today by an official announcement stating that every Jewish book, periodical and newspaper that appeared in this country between 1923-1939 — in Polish, Yiddish and Hebrew has been found intact in the archives of the Polish National Library. More than 2,000 bound volumes of 250 Jewish newspapers and periodicals alone were discovered in good condition, the announcement said.
Many Jewish authors who survived the Nazi regime and whose works were destroyed during the war may now be seen sitting in the Library copying from their own looks. The discovery of these priceless volumes was made by M. Bernstein, well-known Jewish cultural leader. It was explained that the volumes were saved from destruction at the hands of the Nazis by library staff workers who, when war broke out, falsely labelled the books as “Germanica” and “Polonica.”
Prior to the war, every newspaper, magazine and book publisher in Poland was compelled to send to the National Library a copy of” every publication he turned out. These copies form the bulk of the National Library’s Jewish collection.The Library’s present volumes of Judaica comprise the only complete source of information for historians and scholars in Poland. Library employees are now busy cataloguing all the Jewish volumes and hope in the near future to bring order to the entire collection.
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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.
