URGENT NEED FOR INCREASED GENERAL ECONOMIC AID TO THE JEWS OF POLAND IS STRESSED IN A REPORT TO THE JOINT DISTRIBUTION COMMITTEE, WHICH STATES THAT THE JEWS ARE LIVING IN A “POISONED ATMOSPHERE” WITH TREMENDOUS FORCES ALIGNED AGAINST THEM.
“THE MAJORITY OF THE NEWSPAPERS CONDUCT AN UNREMITTING AGITATION AGAINST THE JEWISH POPULATION,” SAYS THE REPORT. “THIS CAMPAIGN IS CONSCIOUS OF WHAT IT IS DRIVING AT, AND SYSTEMATIC. THE BIG WARSAW JOURNALS AND THE PROVINCIAL PRESS, AS WELL AS HAND BILLS, DAILY CLAMOR FOR THE BOYCOTT AGAINST THE JEWS. EVEN THE GOVERNMENT PRESS TREATS” THE JEWISH QUESTION ALMOST DAILY FROM THE STANDPOINT THAT THE JEWS MUST EMIGRATE.
“THE PARLIAMENT HAS BECOME A TRIBUNE FROM WHICH THE WORST KING OF AGITATION AGAINST THE JEWS CAN BE HEARD. THE THEME IS THAT THE MAJORITY OF JEWS MUST LEAVE POLAND AND THAT THEY MUST BE EXCLUDED FROM TRADE AND INDUSTRY. IN SUCH A POISONED ATMOSPHERE, THEREFORE, ONE SHOULD NOT WONDER AT THE OUTBREAKS WHICH TAKE THE FORM OF POGROMS. THE POGROMS ARE SCARCELY A SURPRISE ANY LONGER TO POLISH JEWRY AND ONE ONLY HEARS CONVERSATIONS AS TO THE NEXT TOWN IN WHICH ONE IS TO TAKE PLACE.”
THE REPORT STATES THAT THE JEWS ARE BEING DRIVEN FROM COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY BY ALL POSSIBLE MEANS. JEWS BEING SUBJECTED TO THE GREATEST DIFFICULTIES IN EFFORTS TO OPEN MARKET STANDS, CHRISTIAN CONSUMERS’ COOPERATIVES BEING OPENED EVERYWHERE AND SIGNS BEING UNIVERSALLY DISPLAYED CALLING ATTENDING TO “POLISH STORE” OR “CHRISTIAN STORE” OR “CATHOLIC STORE” ANOTHER MEANS OF RUINING JEWISH BUSINESS IS THE REQUIREMENT OF REPAIRS OR NEW BUILDINGS WHICH DRIVE THE JEWISH PETTY TRADERS OUT OF BUSINESS.
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.
