Radio Warsaw today admitted in a broadcast that “signs of anti-Semitism have lately appeared in public life” in Poland. It pointed out that the present manifestations of anti-Semitism “cannot be liquidated by orders from above” and emphasized the need to appeal to all the people of the country to combat them.
The broadcast indicated that the present stirring of anti-Semitism may be attributable to the fact that certain Jews are among the principal spokesmen for the more critical minded views that have lately come to the fore in post-Stalin Poland. Other sources believe that circles close to Edward Ochab, the new first secretary of the Communist Party, are deliberately tolerating or even encouraging an anti-Semitic whispering campaign as a by-product of an anti-intellectual drive.
Until recently, the existence of anti-Semitism in Poland was vigorously denied in the Polish press and radio, but under the new trend of reporting now permitted, a number of publications have recently confirmed the perseverance of anti-Jewish prejudice and excesses. An article by Leszek Kolakowski in the student magazine “Po Prostu,” which was headlined “Anti-Semites–A Warning,” has attracted much attention.
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