A demand that the government of Poland bring to an end the discriminatory policy which is said to have reduced three million Jews of Poland to economic ruin, and that a conference be called by Polish governmental leaders for the purpose of effecting such changes as will place the Jews of Poland on a footing of economic equality with non-Jewish Polish citizens and reestablish them in the economic system of the country, was formulated Sunday afternoon at a joint conference called by the American Jewish Congress and the Federation of Polish Jews in America at the Hotel New Yorker. One hundred and fifty delegates, representing 75 organizations, attended the conference and unanimously adopted the resolution in which these views were incorporated.
Acting upon the suggestion of Z. Tygel, Executive Director of the Federation of Polish Jews in America, the conference named a delegation of seven to present to the conference of the Allied Jewish Campaign, which will be held next Sunday in Washington to formulate plans for a six million dollar campaign for Palestine and and European relief, the imperative needs of Polish Jewry. The delegation, which consists of Bernard S. Deutsch, Benjamin Winter, Hon. Nathan D. Perlman, Bernard G. Richards, Dr. Joseph Tenenbaum, Z. Tygel and Herman B. Oberman, will call upon the conference to place before it the facts of present day conditions in Poland with a view to enlarging its program of relief for that country.
Dr. Stephen S. Wise, who was one of the speakers at Sunday’s conference, urged that the conference in Washington be requested to take no action without consulting with Polish Jewish leaders, and that a delegation of Polish Jewish leaders be invited to come to the United States to confer with American representatives.
A vivid picture of the disastrous plight of the Jews of Poland and of the alleged discriminatory tactics pursued by the government was offered by Dr. Joseph Tenenbaum. Of the three million Jews who live in Poland, he said, one million have been reduced to starvation, another million oscillate between life and death, while one million has barely emerged above the starvation point.
The system of taxation, Dr. Tenenbaum charged, has been so devised by the government that it falls heaviest upon the Jews, out of all proportion to their population or wealth. The Jews who constitute 11 percent of the population are forced to pay 40 percent of their taxes, and this at a time when they have been forced out of industries, uprooted from economic life by the growth of government monopolies and the increase of government co-operatives. Not only have the Jews been forced to turn over their industries to the government, he said, but they are now virtually excluded from employment in all government industries and co-operatives. Credit is denied them. Tens of thousands of small traders have during the past year or two returned their licenses, preferring to yield their businesses rather than undertake the impossible alternative of paying the exorbitant taxes.
In addition Jews are not admitted to administrative positions, Dr. Tenenbaum charged. Jewish students crowd foreign universities for want of facilities in Polish schools. Even the free exodus of students seeking learning in foreign institutions is obstructed by refusal of passports and the imposition of heavy fines, he said. Jewish institutions are maintained solely by Jewish contributions, despite the disproportionate taxation inflicted on the Jews. Denied free access to industrial and technical schools, the government now refuses to permit the functioning of technical schools built and maintained by the Jews themselves, he declared.
Other speakers at Sunday’s conference were Bernard S. Deutsch, Hon. Nathan D. Perlman, Bernard G. Richards, Z. Tygel and Jacob Leichtman. The resolution which the conference adopted declares that “while recognizing the friendship which exists between the government of Poland and the Jewish people, and while recalling with cordial appreciation evidence of that friendship, in particular the attitude of Poland’s Foreign Minister Zaleski in Geneva at the conference of the League of Nations, and the generous efforts of Poland’s official representative in Palestine at the time of the Arab outbreaks, we submit that the hardships of the Jewish citizens of Poland appear to be more severe than those of
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.
