The Polish Premier, Gen. Sikorski, in his capacity as president of the conference of Allied Governments which pledged itself to post-war vengeance against Nazis guilty of terrorizing the population in occupied countries, today issued a statement declaring that all Allied governments deplore the Nazi crimes against the Jews and will hold the perpetrators responsible for them.
The statement was addressed to the British section of the World Jewish Congress and was in reply to an appeal sent by the Congress to each of the Allied governments urging that they include specific reference to crimes committed by the Nazis against Jews, in the declaration of post-war punishment which they issued.
“Such specific reference,” the Congress argued, “is justified by the fact that the Jews in the occupied countries are subjected to particular tortures and humiliations. In addition, the Nazis have isolated the Jews in ghettos, have given them smaller food rations, and are treating them much worse than the oppressed non Jewish population.”
In his statement today, Gen. Sikorski points out that the request cannot be complied with despite the fact that all governments are unanimous in deploring the Nazi atrocities against the Jews. “We condemn the anti-Jewish crimes just as we condemn the Nazi crimes against the other sections of the populations in the occupied countries,” Sikorski stated. “As signatories, however, we believe that the character of race and religion of the victim ought not to constitute an element susceptible of modifying the criminal nature of the act of cruelty. There is no reason to specifically recall the sufferings endured by Jews, especially since such reference might be the equivalent of implicit recognition of racial theories which we all reject.”
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.
