Fall of Pound Adds to Jewish Unemployment in Poland: Textile Clothing Factories Working for Export T

The fall in the value of the English pound has dislocated the textile industry in Bialystock, one of the big Jewish centres of Poland, with the result that a large number of Jewish workers are being thrown out of employment. The Bialystock textile factories have in recent years been working mainly for the export trade to England. The export trade in the cheaper class of clothing has also suffered a serious setback. Several factories have already been closed down and many workers have been dismissed. The tailoring town of Brzeszin, near Lodz, which has been producing ready-made clothing largely for export trade, is again faced by starvation.

In 1926, the population of Brzeszin, which is almost entirely Jewish, was found to be in a state of destitution, owing to the decreasing demand for ready-made clothing. Before the war, there were 2,000 Jewish tailors at work in Brzeszin. These had fallen in 1926 to 1,200, but hardly any of them were in employment. Representatives of the Joint Distribution Committee found the situation desperate. Over 400 families of Jewish tailors were described as literally starving. As a result of the efforts of the Joint Distribution Committee, a co-operative was established in Brzeszin and supported with credit funds, which enabled the Brzeszin tailors to produce ready-made clothing mainly for export to England and elsewhere.

During the big British general strike of 1926, the Polish textile and clothing industries had a temporary boom, following the inability of the British textile and clothing industry to complete their orders, but some of the connections then made with the British market were retained.