Reports that United States Ambassador Arthur Bliss Lane here arranged the press conference at which Augustus Cardinal Hlond charged that Poland’s mounting anti-Semitism was largely due to the fact that Jews held leading posts in the Warsaw Government, have now been confirmed, following a detailed disclosure of the American envoy’s connection with the newspaper correspondents’ conference with the primate. The facts are as follows:
On July 8, at a press conference called for the purpose of issuing a statement on the results of the Polish referendum, Premier Edward B. Osubka-Morawski, in answer to a question, charged the Polish Catholic Church with failure to combat anti-Semitism in this country.
Later the same day, Ambassador Lane visited American correspondents in their press room at the Polonia Hotel and told them that he had seen Cardinal Hlond earlier in the day and that he had advised the Cardinal who up until then had declined to see any correspondents, that it would be wise to see the American newspapermen and explain to them the position of the Polish Catholic Church on the Jewish murders at Kielce, in particular, and on anti-Semitism in general.
On July 11, with the assistance of an American Embassy official serving as interpreter, the Cardinal made the anti-Jewish statement to the correspondents, after which the United States Ambassador expressed his astonishment and explained that he had expected the Cardinal to say, among other things, that anti-Semitism was contrary to God’s will.
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.
