WIDESPREAD ANTI-JEWISH EXCESSES OVER THE WEEKEND HERALDED THE ARRIVAL OF THE NEW YEAR IN POLAND. TWENTY JEWS WERE WOUNDED AND MORE THAN 100 BEATEN IN DISORDERS IN WARSAW, LODZ, LOMZA AND TEN OTHER LOCALITIES. MANY ATTACKS ON JEWS WERE CARRIED OUT BY UNIFORMED MEMBERS OF THE ANTI-SEMITIC NATIONAL RADICAL AND NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC PARTIES IN ACCORDANCE WITH what APPEARED TO BE PREARRANGED PLANS.
IN LOMZA, FOR EXAMPLE, UNIFORMED AND NON-UNIFORMED NATIONAL RADICALS, OR NARAS, ENTERED IN MILITARY FORMATION, BROKE INTO SMALLER GROUPS AND SYSTEMATICALLY DEMOLISHED ALL JEWS’ STALLS IN THE MARKET PLACE AND BEAT UP JEWS. THEY FORCED JEWISH SHOPKEEPERS TO CLOSE UP AND KEPT THE TOWN IN TERROR UNTIL, AT A SIGNAL FROM THEIR LEADER, THEY MARCHED AWAY.
ELEVEN JEWS WERE WOUNDED IN MARKET-DAY RIOTS IN SOKOLOW-PODLASKI. ANTI-JEWISH ATTACKS WERE REPORTED ALL OVER THE WARSAW DISTRICT, RESULTING IN SERIOUS INJURIES TO THREE JEWS, ONE OF THEM A PREGNANT WOMAN. MANY MORE RECEIVED MINOR INJURIES. IN THE VILLAGE OF NALENCZOW, MENDEL HERSHENDRUNS, 65, HIS 66-YEAR-OLD WIFE AND HIS PARTNER, ISAAC SIMFIELD, 65, WERE BEATEN WITH IRON RODS AND TAKEN TO A HOSPITAL IN RADOM IN CRITICAL CONDITION.
POLICE INTERVENTION AVERTED RIOTS IN BELSO-PODLASKI WHEN POLISH WORKERS HALTED THEIR WORK TO ATTACK NARAS WHO WERE SEEKING TO PICKET JEWISH SHOPS. IN CZARNOW, EAST GALICIA, POLISH AND JEWISH WORKERS JOINED IN PREVENTING NATIONAL DEMOCRATS (ENDEKS) FROM PICKETING JEWISH SHOPS.
ENDEKS’ ATTEMPTS TO SEGREGATE JEWISH TRADERS IN THE MARKET PLACE OF LODZ FRIDAY RESULTED IN CLASHES IN WHICH 25 JEWS WERE INJURED. ENDEKS PICKETED JEWISH STALLS AND SHOPS, DEMOLISHING A NUMBER OF STALLS AND DESTROYING THE WARES, AND CIRCULATED ANTI-JEWISH LEAFLETS. POLICE LATER RESTORED ORDER AND ARRESTED THREE ENDEKS, ONE OF WHOM WAS SUMMARILY SENTENCED TO THREE DAYS’ IMPRISONMENT.
ENDEKS PICKETED JEWISH BOOKSHOPS ON STONKRYSKA STREET IN WARSAW, FORCING CUSTOMERS TO LEAVE AND PREVENTING POLES FROM ENTERING.
NARAS INVADED THE TOWNSHIP OF KULESZ-KOSCIELNY IN THE BIALYSTOK DISTRICT AT NIGHT, WOUNDING SEVERAL JEWS, BREAKING SEVENTY WINDOWS AND FLEEING WHEN THE POLICE ARRIVED. THE NARA ORGAN, ABC, BOASTED OF FURTHER ATTACKS AT DLUGOSZIOLY, BRANCZYCE, PEREMBA, TUZANKA AND CZWORKA.
DISORDERS WERE REPORTED IN OPOCZNO, KIELCE DISTRICT, WITH SEVERAL JEWS INJURED, AND NIEDZNO, LODZ DISTRICT, WHERE JEWISH TRADESMEN WERE DRIVEN FROM THE MARKETS, THEIR GOODS DESTROYED AND TEN INJURED. SIMILAR DISTURBANCES OCCURRED IN THE NEIGHBORING TOWNSHIP OF LOPUSZIN.
AT NOWOMIASTO, IN THE WARSAW DISTRICT, HOWEVER, POLISH WORKERS ORGANIZED DEFENSE UNITS TO PREVENT ENDEK PICKETS FROM INTERFERING WITH JEWISH SHOPS.
BOYCOTT DRIVE SPREADS TO CITIES
THE ANTI-JEWISH BOYCOTT CAMPAIGN, CONCENTRATED HITHERTO IN SMALL TOWNS, WAS SPREADING TODAY TO LARGER CENTERS, INCLUDING WARSAW, LUBLIN AND GRODNO.
AN ANTI-JEWISH WEEK WAS PROCLAIMED IN GRODNO BY THE ANTI-SEMITIC NATIONAL DEMOCRATS IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE CAMP FOR NATIONAL UNITY OF COL. ADAM KOC. THOUSANDS OF LEAFLETS URGING A BOYCOTT WERE DISTRIBUTED. AUTOMOBILES EQUIPPED WITH LOUDSPEAKERS TOURED THE CITY SHOUTING ANTI-JEWISH SLOGANS.
THE HAVAS NEWS AGENCY SAID THAT MEMBERS OF THE NATIONALIST YOUTH ORGANIZATION, DRESSED IN LIGHT TAN UNIFORMS AND BASQUE BERETS, TOOK STATIONS BEFORE JEWISH STORES TO PHOTO GRAPH ALL CHRISTIAN CUSTOMERS. THE PHOTOGRAPHS WILL BE PUBLISHED IN A “BLACKLIST OF TRAITORS.”
IN PIATRIKOW, PLACARDS DECLARING “DEATH TO THE JEWS:” WERE HUNG ON THE STREETS AND NOT REMOVED DESPITE THE INTERVENTION OF THE SOCIALIST MAYOR.
A CALL FOR MASS EVACUATION OF THE JEWS FROM POLAND WAS ISSUED BY THE YOUTH ORGANIZATION OF COL. KOC’S PARTY. THE YOUTH GROUP, “THE UNION OF THE NEW GENERATION,” ISSUED A STATEMENT IN THE NEWSPAPER MLODA POLSKA, OFFERING A PROGRAM FOR SOLUTION OF THE “JEWISH PROBLEM,” AS FOLLOWS:
1. A POLISH AND AN INTERNATIONAL JEWISH ORGANIZATION MUST FIND TERRITORIES FOR JEWISH SETTLEMENT.
2. JEWS SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO TAKE OUT ANY MONEY WHEN LEAVING POLAND.
3. A SPECIAL GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENT SHOULD BE ESTABLISHED TO SPEED JEWISH EMIGRATION.
“THE JEWS,” THIS MANIFESTO READS, “MUST REALIZE THAT THE SOVEREIGN POLISH NATIONS DEPRIVES THEM OF THE RIGHT TO REMAIN IN POLAND BECAUSE THE VITAL INTERESTS OF THE POLISH PEOPLE CONFLICT WITH THE INTERESTS OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE.”
THE UNION DISTRIBUTED PAMPHLETS IN THE STREETS OF WARSAW CALLING FOR A FIGHT AGAINST JEWRY, COMMUNISM AND FREEMASONRY.
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.
