JEWISH STUDENTS TODAY RESISTED RECTORS’ ORDERS TO OCCUPY “GHETTO BENCHES” IN COLLEGE CLASSROOMS WHILE LIBERALS AND SOCIALISTS JOINED THEIR STRUGGLE AGAINST SEGREGATION.
MINISTER OF EDUCATION SWIETOSLAWSKI TONIGHT BROADCAST AN APPEAL TO MAINTAIN ORDER IN THE SCHOOLS AND NOT “STAIN ACADEMIC HONOR.” HE DECLARED DISORDERS SUCH AS HAVE OCCURRED IN THE PAST TWO YEARS WOULD NOT BE TOLERATED, BUT MADE NO MENTION OF THE SEGREGATION ORDER.
DESPITE THREATS OF DISCIPLINARY ACTION, THE JEWS OCCUPIED THE SECTIONS OF THE CLASSROOMS RESERVED FOR THEM, BUT REMAINED STANDING DURING THE LECTURES, REFUSING TO TAKE THE SEATS ALLOTTED THEM.
SOCIALIST AND LIBERAL STUDENTS ISSUED A DECLARATION ANNOUNCING THEY HAD DECIDED TO OCCUPY THE SAME BENCHES AS THEIR “HUMILIATED JEWISH COLLEAGUES.” THE YIDDISH DAILY, DAS WORT, WAS CONFISCATED FOR PUBLISHING THIS DECLARATION, AND ALSO FOR PRINTING AN ARTICLE ATTACKING THE RECTORS’ SEGREGATION ORDER, ISSUED YESTERDAY UNDER AUTHORIZATION GRANTED BY THE EDUCATION MINISTRY.
ANTI-SEMITIC NEWSPAPERS CONTINUED TO EXPRESS JUBILATION OVER THE ORDER AS THE FIRST STEP IN A CAMPAIGN TO OUST JEWS FROM COLLEGES, WHILE SOCIALIST AND DEMOCRATIC NEWSPAPERS ATTACKED THE MEASURE AND THE GOVERNMENT PRESS CONSPICUOUSLY REFRAINED FROM COMMENT.
ANTI-JEWISH NEWSPAPERS, APPLAUDING THE “SPLENDID VICTORY OF POLISH NATIONAL YOUTH,” WARNED THAT JEWISH STUDENTS “PROVOKING” POLES “WILL MAKE FURTHER ATTACKS NECESSARY.”
THE WARSZAWSKI DZIENNIK NARADOWY, ENDEK ORGAN, HAILED THE ORDER AS “A TRIUMPH FOR THE POLISH NATIONAL IDEAL” AND EXPRESSED THE HOPE THAT THE NUMERUS CLAUSUS IN UNIVERSITIES WOULD SOON BECOME A NUMERUS NULLUS.
“WE ARE ADVANCING ALONG THE ENTIRE LINE AND THE JEWS ARE RETREATING ON EVERY FRONT,” THE PAPER SAID. OTHER ANTI-SEMITIC PAPERS PUBLISHED SIMILAR ARTICLES, POINTING
OUT THAT “GHETTO BENCHES” WERE SANCTIONED BY THE GOVERNMENT, LEADING TO THE HOPE OF “FURTHER INTENSIFICATION OF THE ANTI-JEWISH COURSE.”
SOCIALIST AND DEMOCRATIC PAPERS SAID THE MEASURE WOULD NOT BRING PEACE IN THE SCHOOLS BUT ONLY LEAD TO FRESH ANTI-JEWISH DEMANDS AND FURTHER DISORDERs.
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.
