thodoxy in Poland to support the Pilsudski government and supported the Agudath Israel against the Zionists and other groups in obtaining control of Jewish affairs.
He was also instrumental in having passed the kehilla law regulating and defining the functions of Jewish community organizations.
In national politics, Col. Pieracki was a leader of the Polish legionaries, who constitute Marshal Pilsudski’s chief support.
BEGAN CAREER IN 1930
The assassinated Minister held the rank of colonel. He started his cabinet career as Under-Secretary of State for the Interior in the Pilsudski cabinet and held that post from August to December, 1930. From December, 1930, to May, 1931, he was Minister Without Portfolio in the Slawek cabinet, becoming Minister of the Interior in the Prystor cabinet in May, 1931.
Earlier this year he took up the cudgels against Polish anti-Semites who accused the government of permitting Jewish street demonstrations while at the same time it was prohibiting those of Polish national organizations. In answer to a violently anti-Semitic speech in the Polish Sejm last February by the Endek Deputy Bieleski, Pieracki declared from the Sejm tribune:
HITS TERRORISM
“Acts of terrorism and violence by individuals and collectives, irrespective of their motives and no matter against whom they are directed, will not be tolerated and the perpetrators will not escape severe punishment.”
The Minister further announced: “In order to prevent all misunderstanding, allow me to state that we will not tolerate race and national conflicts because they are alien to the historical spirit of the Polish people.
“Poland’s great power in the past was achieved only thanks to the capacity for living with the alien races inhabiting Poland. It will be perilous if we adopt foreign race theories, which are serving political expansion purposes.
“The race theory transplanted to Polish soil will achieve contrary results and counteract Poland’s material and spiritual ascent.”
At the same time that he pointed out as the main principle of Polish policy the full equality to all citizens, Pieracki warned the national minorities in his country against extreme nationalism which he said, hinders peaceful living with the Polish people.
When he concluded his reply to the Endeks, Deputy Paczki, a member of the government bloc, in another vigorous speech repudiated the Endek allegation that the government favored the Jews and declared that the police must protect the lives and property of all citizens, irrespective of their nationality and religion.
ASSUMES PROTECTION
In the middle of May Col. Pleracki once again gave assurance that the Polish government will stand by its declaration to wipe out every attempt to introduce racial conflicts in Poland. That was when Drs. Rosmarin and Wislicki, Jewish members of the Sejm, called upon him to protest against the continued attacks upon the Jews by the National Radical anti-Semites.
He received a detailed memorandum from the Jewish deputies, who also provided him with affidavits and statements of witnesses regarding the Nara #ssaults. The list included Jews beaten up in the streets, attacks on homes and shops, the robbing of Jewish private houses, attacks on Jewish women and efforts at incendiarism directed against the Jews.
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.
