ishment be meted out to those guilty of the disturbances and compensation for Jewish victims.
The Polish Ambassador to the United States, Tytus Filipowicz is scored for his allegation with regard to the situation in Poland following the anti-Semitic excesses in a statement issued jointly by four leading national Jewish organizations : the American Jewish Committee, the American Jewish Congress, the B’nai Brith and the Federation of Polish Jews in America, made public today through the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
The statement issued following a meeting of representatives of the four organizations yesterday contradicts the Polish Ambassador on his allegation that calm has been restored; on his reference to the Polish student Jan Grotkowski killed following a drunken brawl as the only casualty; on his allegation that adequate protective measures were taken and his assertion that exaggerated press reports are retarding Polish Jewish amity.
The Polish government is called upon to evolve some effective means to insure the prevention of disturbances which have been “all too frequent within recent years.” The statement in its full text declares :
December 7, 1932.
The American Jewish Committee, the American Jewish Congress, the B’nai B’rith, and the Federation of Polish Jews in America, having received and read the public statement of the Honorable Tytus Filipowicz, Ambassador to the United States from Poland, referring to the current anti-Jewish outbreaks, in joint meeting of their representatives held on Wednesday, December 7, 1932, have issued the following statement :
The Ambassador states
1) That complete calm is restored. We regret that his statement rests upon incorrect information; the reports that have reached us within the past twenty-four hours indicate that anti-Jewish manifestations have not ceased.
The Ambassador further states
2) That the press reports have been exaggerated.
The reports of various reliable news agencies and other special correspondents of leading dailies in this country agree on the essential facts as reported in the American press. In addition we have corroboration from other reliable sources.
The Ambassador goes on to say
3) That protests and resolutions have been published which have aroused “unfounded fears which may only result in hindering normal development of Christian-Jewish relations in Poland.”
Despite the harrowing occurrences we have been actuated from the very beginning by the desire to avoid anything that would tend to add to the tension existing between the Jewish and non-Jewish populations of Poland. We have studiously refrained from giving utterance to a natural feeling of horror and indignation over the shameful excesses and have exercised a self-restraint which in itself reflects a high sense of responsibility. So far as we know there have been no protests or resolutions in the press or elsewhere except the public statement issued by the joint committee on December 1st and the communication addressed to the Ambassador by the American Jewish Congress on November 29th. Surely there was nothing in these statements calculated to arouse “unfounded fears.”
The Ambassador states :
4) That “the only fatal casualty is a Christian student Grotkowski.”
It seems strange that the Ambassador places undue emphasis upon a single non-Jewish fatality resulting from an unprovoked attack on Jewish passersby without in any way referring to the many hundreds of serious casualties to Jews, some of which have proved fatal.
That adequate preparation was lacking is indicated not only by the fact that the riots have lasted for several days and that hundreds of persons have been injured, but also by the evident knowledge which the government must have had of a number of outbreaks going back to the early part of November to which attention was called by one of our associated bodies through a letter addressed to the Ambassador, dated November 11th.
Unfortunately there has since come to our notice that not only was necessary adequate preparation lacking on the part of the authorities but that in many instances the police either remained inactive or aided the assailants of the Jews.
It appears thus that in conformity with the universally recognized principles of humanity and civilization, some effective means can and should be evolved by the Polish Government, to insure so stable an order of life as to prevent manifestations of this character which have been all too frequent within recent years.
The presidents of the associated organizations that have joined in the above statement are Dr. Cyrus Adler of the American Jewish Committee, Bernard S. Deutsch of the American Jewish Congress, Alfred M. Cohen of the B’nai B’rith, and Benjamin Winter of the Federation of Polish Jews in America.
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.
