British officials today opened the inquest into the tragic death of Samuel Zygelbojm, Jewish member of the Polish National Council who committed suicide as a protest against the indifference of the democratic world to the Nazi massacres of Jews in Poland. After the body had been identified by close friends, the inquest adjourned until June 8, The letters which Zygelbojm left, addressed to the Polish President and to the Premier of Poland, explaining his act, as well as the draft of a cable which he was about to send to friends in New York, have been detained by the authorities and will not be made public before the inquest is over.
The question of who will take Zygelbojm’s place in the Polish National Council still remains open. Leaders of the party of which Zygelbojm was a member named a London member of the Jewish Socialist Party of Poland to succeed Zygelbojm, but the Polish Government has not yet considered the nomination. All personal possessions of Zygelbojm have been handed over to his friend Leon Roller.
It was reported here today that just before his death, Zygelbojm received a message from the leaders of Polish Jewry in Warsaw, brought by an underground emissary named Jaczynski. The message expressed doubt that Jewish leaders abroad would do anything to help the Jews in Poland, It suggested that if the Jews in London were interested, they should go to the British Foreign Office and the American embassy and demand action, even if it were necessary to stay there until they were ejected. Zygelbojm conveyed this message to local Jewish leaders, but nothing was done. Jaczynski, it is also reported, saw Foreign Secretary Eden and other high officials.
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.
