Leaders of the Polish Government and representatives of British and Allied labor organizations were among the several hundred people who gathered today at the funeral services for Samuel Zygelbojm, Jewish member of the Polish National Council, who committed suicide on May 12 in protest against what he felt was the democratic world’s apathy to the slaughter of Polish Jewry.
Lauding Zygelbojm as “one who sacrificed his life to protest against the appalling tragedy which has befallen his people,” Stanislaw Kot, Polish Minister of Information, read a message received from the Jewish underground in Poland, asking that Zygelbojm’s death be the signal for action to save the remnants of Polish Jewry before it is too late. Kot added that “Poland will be a mother to all citizens and will devote all its energy to complying with Zygelbojm’s last wishes.” Stanislaw Grabski, president of the Polish Council, paid tribute to his dead colleague as “a fighter for the Jewish proletariat and victim of the great tragedy of the Jewish people.”
Camille Huysmans, Belgian Socialist leader, describing Zygelbojm as a true soldier of Socialism “who went from house to hour to pray for help for his stricken people,” pledged that “we will persevere and the Jewish people will not perish.” Other speakers included W. Gilles of the British Labor Party, Dr. Ignacy Schwarzbart, the other Jewish deputy in the Polish Council and Adam Ciolkosz, Polish Socialist leader. Following the services, Zygelbojm’s body was cremated.
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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.
