Testimony of Jewish soldiers threatened with death by anti-Semitic officers in the Polish Army was made public here today by Tom Driberg. Independent member of the House of Commons, as a polish court-martial “Somewhere in the British Isles” was trying a group of Jewish soldiers who left the polish Army because of anti-Semitism and came to London to plead for a transfer to the British forces.
The testimony quoted a Polish captain Lupa Mielmiozuk as expressing high regard for Hitler, in front of his soldiers, “because Hitler is murdering the Jews.”He added that “this is not the end as yet.” Another officer, Capt. Hrekowski, warned a Jewish soldier under his commend that “the time will yet come for the Jews.”
Lance-Corporal Nowakowsky is quoted as having stated to Jewish soldiers: “I beat Jews in Poland before the war, and will beat them upon my return to Poland, if any of them are still left there.”
Corporal Czeslaw Kaczorow, second in command of a platoon, refused to take any steps against a private , Jan Lis who, in the presence of many soldiers, told a Jewish soldier. “I killed Jews in Poland, and shall kill you too on the first possible occasion.” A Polish corporal named Rozensky is quoted as having stated publicly in his barracks: “I would like to kill five Jews, three Communists and two Ukrainians.
Anti-Jewish verses ridiculing the Jewish people and their religion were constantly sung by a Polish bombardier, Ratajczyk who molested Jewish soldiers. When asked by a Jewish flier to stop his anti-Semitic activities, he is quoted as having replied. “You dirty Jew. If we were not here, I would have finished with you long ago.”
Other testimony stated that after the first group of Jewish soldiers left the Polish Army and joined the British forces, the situation became even more difficult for those Jews remaining. Polish soldiers whispered among themselves that when the second front was opened, their first action would be to murder “any Jews that are still left in Polish units.”
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.
