Furnishing of Corpses for Jewish Medical Students Poland Conference Subject

A conference on the problem of supplying Jewish corpses to dissecting rooms of the Polish universities for the anatomical work of the Jewish students was held here yesterday under the chairmanship of the chief of the Educational Department. M. Suchodolsky, Representatives from the Universities of Warsaw, Vilna, Lemberg and Cracow as well as representatives from the Warsaw. Vilna and Cracow Jewish communities were present. The head of the Jewish Hospital in Lemberg also attended.

Suchodolsky emphasized the need for regulation with regard to the matter of corpses in order to put an end to the present undesirable incidents at the universities which arise because the Christian students resent the use of Christian corpses by the Jewish students. The anti-Semitic Professor Lodemanded that the Jewish students supply Jewish corpses, since this was not in violation of any Jewish religious precept. M. Vogodsky, representing the Jewish community of Vilna in a long speech declared that the furnishing of corpses was not the concern of the students but rather of the government and demanded the legal regulation of the matter. A number of other Polish professors agreed with Lot. M. Farbstein of the Warsaw Jewish community reported to the conference a decision of the rabbis and the kehillah by which Jewish corpses can be provided from those dying in the hospitals and whose bodies are not claimed by relatives within 48 hours. Suchodolsky, in a closing speech, expressed satisfaction with the conference proceedings and declared himself convinced that the solution to the problem of the corpses lay only in special government regulation. Other conferences are to be held shortly.

A memorial service to honor the memory of Dr. Leon Reich, member of the Polish Parliament and foremost Polish Zionist leader, who died last week, will be held tonight at the Jewish Institute of Religion, under the auspices of the New York Zionist Region.

Eulogies on the deceased, who was considered one of the foremost figures in European Jewish life, will be delivered by Dr. Shmarya Levin, Dr. S. Margoshes, editor of “The Day,” Z. H. Masliansky. Bernard Semel, and Dr. Joseph Tennenbaum. Jonah J. Goldstein, president of the New York Zionist Region, will preside, and Cantor Joseph Rosenblatt will chant the traditional Hebrew prayer for the dead.