A decree providing the death sentence or life imprisonment for violence against Jews was promulgated today by the Polish Government.
Dated Dec. 17, the measure says that acts of violence against persons of another nationality or religion, or participation in the activities of mobs conducting attacks against such persons will be punishable under martial law, as offenees “especially dangerous in the period of the rebuilding of the Polish State.” There will be no appeal from the sentences of death or life imprisonment which military courts are authorized to impose.
At a press conference following announcement of the decree, Prime Minister Edward Osubloa-Morawski admitted that there have been serious anti-Jewish outbreaks in Poland, but expressed the belief that the new law would check anti-Semitic violence.
At the same time, he charged that the Poles responsible have links with remments of the Nazis and with Gen. Wladyslaw Anders, former commander of the armed forces of the Polish Government-in-Exile.
A delegation representing the Canadian Jewish Congress was received this week by Foreign Minister Wincenty Rzymowski. The Canadian group, which was headed by H.M. Caiserman, general secretary of the Congress, discussed various aspects of Jewish life in Poland.
Mr. Rzymowski also conferred with M. Orenstein, a leader of the Histadruth and a member of the Jewish National Council of Palestine. Mr. Orenstein is here as an observer at the Congress of Polish Trade Unions.
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.
