(By Our Warsaw Correspondent)
The recent accession of the new cabinet here under the premiership of Alexander Skrzynski, who belongs to the more liberal element of Polish politicians, led to the hope that there would be a let up in the economic war which the previous governments had conducted against the Jews. But this hope has not materialized so far.
It is true that there have been indications of a desire on the part of the new government to ameliorate the situation. One step has been the abolition of the so-called “Grabski Agoloh,” or “Grabski Dead-Wagon,” that is, a wagon in which tax colleclors traveled from store to store and appropriated merchandise for taxes. Skrzynski is known to be more tolerant than his predecessors and more ready to discuss the Jewish situation with a view to making arrangements intended to improve the relations between the Jews and Poles. The Polish Jewish agreement was such a move on his part, and there are some who feel that were Skrzynski not confronted with vicious opposition in political circles in Poland he would have been instrumental in bringing about a radical change for the better in the position of the Polish Jews.
The fact remains, however, that to date the Jewish situation economically is in no respect improved. The policy of taxing Jewish tradesmen out of business, nay, out of existence, still continues. Whether the new Polish government has made any serious attempt to abolish the policy of extermination it is hard to say, but the Polish officials continue this practice in the same merciless fashion as before. To the thousands, tens of thousands, of Jewish workers who are being discharged in factories and government offices and banks in Warsaw, Lodz, Lemberg, Lublin, .etc., there are being constantly added hundreds and thousands of Jewish tradesmen who have been taxed out of business and who are joining the vast army of Jewish unemployed.
Frequently the method followed by Polish officials in taxing Jewish businessmen is such that it can he classified only as outright confiscation. It is not based on any of the rules of legal procedure accepted and practiced in even semi-civilized countries. An instance of such arbitrary outrageous practice which occurred recently in Warsaw will serve as a concrete example. A certain Jewish businessman, Mr. S–, who had been dealing in the import of food products on a large scale for the last thirty-five years and had established a reputation for honesty and reliability, has been ruined through the whim of an official. He had always paid his taxes regularly and had made numerous loans to smaller businessmen who were thus enabled to meet their own obligations and to pay their taxes. A government official who had gathered hearsay information regarding Mr. S– suddenly attached the latter’s account in the bank amounting to 150,000 Zlotys. This was done without giving Mr. S– any notice whatsoever regarding his tax bill. All the cash, notes, and checks, many of which had been made out and signed ready to be mailed in payment of goods ordered abroad, were in effect confiscated. Thus this Jewish merchant who had been struggling against difficulties for a number of years because of the exorbitant taxation, but who managed to keep his business going owing to his good standing and irreproachable name in the business world, has now been utterly ruined.
Similar cases could be cited endlessly. It is a tragic situation and there will probably be no change until the Polish government realizes once and for all that in forcing the Jews into the abyss the whole country is going down likewise.
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.
