Most of Poland’s Jews Determined to Emigrate; Reasons Outlined

Most of the Jews of Poland have made up their minds to emigrate as soon as possible and only 10-15,000 of them are prepared to await the results of an investigation now being carried out on the problems of “national minorities,” the Manchester Guardian reports.

The newspaper’s correspondent, who was recently in Poland, said that a special commission of the central committee of the Polish Workers Party is now studying the conditions which have impelled so many of the Jews in the country to seek to leave, but several factors have induced many Jews not to wait.

One of these, the correspondent reported, is that some Jews are among the arrested officials of the political department of the secret police who are now awaiting trial. The Jews fear that the anti-Stalin and anti-Beria feelings at these trials, and which their revelations will generate, will be converted into anti-Semitic manifestations.

The Manchester Guardian correspondent pointed out that another factor was that since the Gomulka regime and Cardinal Wyszinski came to terms, religious instruction has been put on the curriculum in the schools. Many Jews how had adopted Polish names to conceal their Jewish origin, suddenly found themselves and their children in a difficult position and could not refuse to have their children attend Catholic religious instruction without either revealing their Jewish origin or being labelled as Communists.

The correspondent pointed out that Stalinists, seeking to discredit Premier Gomulka, are using anti-Semitism as weapons in their campaign, but he noted that “it is remarkable that the growth of anti-Semitism has coincided with the slowing-down of the revolution. As long as liberation from Stalinism seemed in progress, anti-Semitism was no problem. On the contrary, the mood of the population during the Suez crisis was strongly pro-Jewish and blame was put on the Russians who were accused of having fomented the trouble by supplying arms to Egypt.

“But as soon as the revolution was slowed down and internal tensions grew,” the correspondent reported, “anti-Semitic tendencies became stronger. It now seems that total or nearly total exodus of the Jews from Poland may be the price which will have to be paid for political stabilization of the country.”