POLAND: A Better Day?

Under the Tsars, Poland saw some horrible pogroms, and, later, the Beck regime was also openly antiSemitic. To this residue of racist poison, during the German occupation, the Nazis added their own anti-Semitic slime. The Germans almost ended Poland’s Jewish problem by killing nearly all the Jews. Of 3,500,000 prewar Polish Jews, some 300,000 survive. Most of them are still in Russia, Germany or elsewhere outside the country. Only 80,000 of the Jews who stayed in Poland are left alive.

Now Jewish organizations outside Poland are disturbed by reports that the survivors are still being harassed, that anti-Semitism is still rife. Some of the feeling is purely economic; that is, resentment at Jews returning from exile to claim houses, shops, land, livestock, tools. But most Jews in Poland have nothing left. It was reported, early this month, that an average of 200 Jews a day were slipping into the Anglo-U.S. zones in Austria. Many of them were young and relatively healthy, and some wanted to go to Palestine (see INTERNATIONAL) for a new start.

After so much slaughter and misery, perhaps a better day is dawning for Polish Jews. Poland is again Russian-dominated. But racism is not among the shortcomings of Soviet philosophy. Some Jews occupy high posts in the Warsaw Government. Money has been provided for relief and rehabilitation.

Last week the Warsaw Government indirectly confirmed reports that anti-Semitism was again a problem in Poland: a stern decree forbade anti-Semitic activity, provided severe penalties for infraction.