19
THE JEWISH CHRONICLE
Jews in Occupied Territory of Poland and
Lithuania Compelled to Labor
For Conquerors
Report Says Many Have Died of Exposure and Harsh Treatment—
Forced to Work and Eat On Yom Kippur
The Jewish newspaper "The Day"
has just received from a special corres-
pondent in Germany an account of the
sufferings of the Jews in the German
occupied parts of Poland and Lithuania.
Thousands of members of the race in
the occupied provinces, he writes, are
being destroyed by the inhuman sys-
tem of compulsory service, which, he
says, means slow death from hunger.
cold, and worse work than was forced
upon the Siberian slave. The Germans
have deceived the Jews in a shameful
and disgraceful way, which should never
he forgotten, he says. The first step was
the appearance in the local Jewish, Po-
lish, and Lithuanian press of notices
that, to help the poor, the Germans were
organizing labor bureaus, and stating
that those who did not like the work
could leave. Thousands enrolled to find
the enrollment binding. A few days
later the enrolled Jews received word
that they must report for work not in
Germany but in the occupied territory
near the trenches. They were sent to
dig trenches, build roads, and do similar
work without clothing or shoes, and
for from twelve to sixteen hours service
a day they received one mark and tweet)
phennigs. Many, including women
children and the aged, have died.
Compelled to Work on Yom Kippur.
"The habitations of these Jewish fam-
ilies are usually. built in primitive
fashion," the writer continues. ''They
dig a deep hole in the ground to spend
the night in, so• as to minimize the hit-
ter cold as much as possible. And Brea'
is the number of those who entered
these graves at nightfall never to rise
again. Death freed them from theit
sufferings. Their comrades merely coy
erect them with soil and began to dig
new graves for the living. Naturally.
the unfortunate Jews did not endure
for any length of time under these con.
ditions. One week of such torture wa'
sufficient to cause pneumonia. Of med-
ical aid there was none whatever. Who-
ever reported sick and unable to work
was cruelly beaten. The Jews found tc
their surprise that the German soldier
are not behind the Cossacks when it i
a question of inflicting torture or
others. Many unfortunates continued
to work with a fever of 38-39 degrees
(Centigrade) in order to escape the
cruelty of the German Cossacks, until
they literally fell with the tools in theit
hands.
"During the Jewish New Year, in
September, 1916, a group of several hun-
dred Jews requested the authorities fot
permission to leave their work for twe
(lays, in order to attend holy services.
The authorities granted the request for
the first day only. The Jews were or
tiered to report for work on the second
day. However, they took it upon them
selves to remain away both days. They
hoped that the military authorities
would understand their religious feelings
and that they would only stiffer a pun-
ishment of the payment of a few marks
But the authorities invented quite an
other punishment for them. They cony
gelled them to work on Yom Kippur
the Day of Atonement. All the peti-
tions to have at least the old Jews free('
from the punishment were unsuccessful
and on the morning of the holy day sol-
diers with fixed bayonets compelled tit(
Jews to report for work.
Forced to Break Fast.
"Suddenly the Jews noticed that
something unusual was on foot. The
soldiers were bringing large kettles of
boiling water. What could this signify?
Could it be cooked food? Heretofore
the Jews had been receiving only dry_
moldy bread for their. ration. Was it
possible that now, on the Day of Atone-
ment, the Germans had decided to 1w
so generous as to provide warm food
for them?
"The cause of this was soon apparent
The Jews were forced to eat, under
threats of being shot. 'There, you dirty
Jews, this is for not reporting for wort -
on the second day of New Year's.' The
Jews protested. The old men wept and
the young men argued that it was un-
lawful. According to the laws of the
compulsory service an offense may 1)1
punished either by tine or imprisonment
but under no condition by eating on the
holy fast day. But the soldiers obeyed
their commanders, and the Jews were
forced to eat the filthy food on their
holiest fast day while they were being
1-nocked by the German officers. Th-
Jews will never forget this painful am'
sorrowful indignity."
NEW YORK FALLS BEHIND IN
RELIEF WORK.
Henry Morgenthau Says Other Cities
in Country Are Doing Better
Than Metropolis.
"Meet Friedberg--
Wear Diamonds"
Bet. Miles Theater
Griswold St. and
Mabley's
New York.—According to Henry
Morgenthan, chairman of the Amer-
ican Jewish Relief Committee, the
campaign to raise funds in New York
for the war sufferers has fallen short
of expectations. He expressed these
sentiments at, a dinner given at his
home on Wednesday of last week at
which it was announced that $900,000
had been raised, one-fourth of the
sum desired to be given by the Jews
of New York. Others at the dinner
were Jacob H. Schiff, Judge Otto A.
Rosalsky and Jacob Billikopf.
"The campaign in other cities for
the relief of the Jews in Europe and
in Palestine, rendered starving and
helpless through the war, is making
satisfactory progress," Mr. Morgen-
than said, "but the campaign in
New York has fallen short of our ex-
pectations. This city, with its tre-
mendous Jewish population, owes to
the Jews of Europe a very great deal.
It should lead the way in giving most
generously."
MainiceliFinhel-Architect
309.11 SunBuilding Cadillac 5584
Jewish Workmen Bolt
Congress
Declare They Will Not Attend Con-
vention in September Because Rus-
sian Revolution Has Solved Prob-
lem of Jewish Rights—Con-
demn Plan of Representation
in Congress Meeting.
New Yprk, May 16.—A surprising
announcement has been made by ex-
ecutive members of the National
Workmen's Committee on Jewish
Rights with reference to the Jewish
Congress. This body, representing all
Jewish labor organizations in the
country, with a membership of over
600,000, has decided to abstain from
narticipation in the Congress fo
Jewish Rights to be held in Washi
ton, D. C., on September 2, 1917.
The delegates of the committee
state two reasons for this action. In
the first place, they declare that the
supreme question of Jewish rights in
Russia has been solved by the revo-
lution, inasmuch as the provisional
government of Russia has announced
full political, religious and economic
freedom for all nationalities and races
in the nation, with particular refer-.
encc to the Jews. They also state
that the plan of representation in the
congress is far from democratic and
would exclude from participation
therein most of the 600,000 members
of the workmen's organizations.
This announcement is expected to
create wide discussion in the Jewish
Congress movement and may change
the plans of the September conven-
tion materially. There exists a feel-
ing in some Jewish elements that the
congress will be controlled by advo-
cates of the Zionist movement, and
it is probable that the executive com-
mittee of the congress may issue a
revised declaration of its purposes in
view of the events of the past few
weeks.
DETROIT BUSINESS MEN TAK-
ING A TRIP TO ARI-
ZONA MINES.
A party of Detroit business men
which will include such well known men
as C. A. Spaulding, the wholesale lum-
berman ; • A. A. Moore, of Bessinger
& Moore; Frank Everts, formerly of
Stormfeltz-Lovelev Co., are contemplat-
ing a trip to the.Dripping Springs Cop-
per Company's mines at Dripping
Springs and Mammoth. The above
named gentlemen and numbers of their
friends are heavily interested in the
Dripping Springs Copper Co. and while
at the properties they will decide what
the capacity for the new concentrating
plants will be.
r Cuvuuk
Ice Stations
all over the city
No matter where you may
live there's one close to your
home.
Warm and getting warmer.
Are your foods protected?
Eleven Delivery Stations
Phone Main 3560 or the station
nearest you.
General Ice
Delivery Co.
David A. Brown, Pres.
Pittsburgh Invites You!
EVERY Organization In-
terested in Jewish Social
Work should send delegates
to the National Conference
of Jewish Social Workers
Pittsburgh, June 3, 4, 5, 6, '17.
For program and information write
Boris D. Bogen
808 Neave Bldg.
Cincinnati, Ohio
Send money to your friends and relatives, wherever
they are, through
•
Herman Eichners
'
Foreign Exchange and Steamship Ticket Agency
435 HASTINGS STREET
Cor. Winder
DETROIT, MICH.
Correspondence in all Languages.
Steamship tickets on all lines. Real estate, farms
and farm lands for sale.
NOTARY PUBLIC