Little enthusiasm for the Polish Government’s policy of rights for Jews in a post-war Poland was shown by the Polish National Council when the exiled Government’s general policy was reviewed at a plenary session last night for the first time since the Nov. 3 declaration on Jewish rights.
The declaration was welcomed only by representatives of some factions such as the Socialist Party, the Peasants Party of Wincenty Witos and Paderewski’s Christian Democratic, Party, while members of right-wing groups refrained from any statement on the Jewish problem, apparently in order to avoid embarrassing the Government. An exception was Gen. Zeligowski, who took the opportunity of lecturing the Jews on the necessity of abandoning the desire for “hegemony” and of creating a state and army of their own.
Kwiatkowski of the Paderewski party declared his group was opposed to anti-Semitism. Socialist Adam Czyk declared for his party that Poland’s future was possible only in a country of freedom, equal rights and duties for all, regardless of religion and race. Banaczyk of the Peasants Party praised the declaration as an act of political maturity and declared the Government was under obligation to judge its citizens only according to their devotion to the fatherland. He said his party would fight to transform the Stanczyk declaration into reality in Polish life.
A strong anti-Jewish attack was made by Gen. Zeligowski, who insisted that the Jewish people, scattered the world over, were inspired by the idea of “domination,” but that this aim had failed to materialize. Now, he said, the time had come for final settlement among races and nations and the Jewish would have to make up their minds whether they wanted to create somewhere their own state and army.
Ignacy Schwartzbart, Jewish member of the Council, in a two-hour speech, expressed regret that the right-wingers had not indicated any change in attitude towards the Jews. He stressed Jewish support of the Polish cause the would over, the patriotism of Polish Jewish organizations and the heroic deeds of Polish Jewish soldiers.
Schwartzbart declared that not only the Government, but the Polish people had to renounce definitely the policy of Jewish mass emigration, which had been rejected by 99 per cent of the Polish Jews and supported only by anti-Semites and by the Zionist-Revisionists, who were an insignificant minority of the Polish Jews.
The necessary occupational redistribution of Polish Jews after the war should be “accompanied by the opening to them of all manual and intellectual occupations from which they were hitherto barred including state and municipal services,” he said.
Replying to Zeligowski, the Jewish member pointed out that the Zionist movement had been striving for 50 years for establishment of a Jewish state, but this aim was indissolubly bound up with the rights of Jews in the countries in which they now lived.
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.
