The Polish Ambassador here today decreed compulsory registration of all Poles in France between the ages of 17 and 45 for service in the Polish Legion.
Meanwhile, charges were voiced in the newspaper L’Ordre that Polish Jewish citizens were being turned down by the Polish Consulate when they volunteered for the legion. The newspaper published a letter revealing that many Jewish students and intellectuals of Polish citizenship who had offered to join the legion had been rejected “just because we happened to be Jews.”
The letter, which bore a number of signatures, expressed the hope that “this might have been but a regrettable manifestation by minor officials” and asked: “Why should not competent Jewish authorities put an end to such a scandalous attitude, since the present situation in Poland is such as not to permit the Polish Consulate in Paris to indulge in racial discrimination.”
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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.
