Fr;ciay, April It, 1944
Polish Army Leader Denies
Charges of Anti-Semitism
Gen. Sosnkowski Says There is No Discrimination in Qrder-
ing Ban on Anti-Jewish Activity; Report 3,500
Jewish Soldiers Asking Transfer
. • LONDON (JPS)—Complete denial of charges of anti-Semitism
in the Polish forces was made by Gen. Sosnkowski, commander-in-
chief of the Polish Army, at a press conference in Naples, according
to reports here. At the same time, it was revealed here that Gen.
- Sosnkowski issued an order banning anti-Semitism in the Polish
forces.
These statements, by the Polish commander-in-chief and spokes-
man for the Polish Government-in-Exile, followed the airing in the
House of Commons of accusations that anti-Semitism was so rife in
. the Polish Army, that several hundred Jewish soldiers applied for
transfers to the British forces, and some went AWOL to go to London
to submit transfer applications.
Gen. Sosnkowski declared in Naples that "the Polish armed
forces are free of any racial prejudice. There is no discrimination
•whatever as far as race and religion are concerned." In support of
this point he said that two Jewish commandos with the Polish forces
in Italy had received decorations, and that he had presented to
Michael Klepfiz, a fighter of the Battle of the Warsaw Ghetto, a
posthumous award.
THE JEWISH NEWS
Page Three
Weekly Review of the News of the World
(Compiled From Cables of Independent Jewish Press Service)
OVERSEAS
Syrian legations may soon be opened in
Washington and London, the Syrian govern-
ment stated in an announcement that it was
taking steps to establish formal relations with
Great Britain and the U. S.
In Budapest 1,600 houses belonging to Jews
were confiscated by the authorities, and the
Jews were put out with no other accommoda-
tions being made available for them. The
Hungarian Minister of Finance ordered all Jews
in the country to deliver all their valuables
within three days to designated government
offices. Jews were also ordered to deliver their
radios to the authorities within the same three-
day period. Heavy penalties will be imposed on
thoSe not complying with the order.
A Hungarian radio broadcast announced that
Drs. Lazlo Soblichi and Ferenz Kombazi, lead-
ing members of the Jewish Community Council
of Budapest, are being held as hostages to be
executed in the event of sabotage committed
by. Jews against the Gerinan troops.
Father Waczlav Stamosevicius, a Catholic
priest, has been sentenced to three years' im-
prisonment for attempting to assist a 16 year
old Jewish girl to evade deportation. He bap-
tized the girl, registered her under an assumed
name and employed hen as a servant in the
parish house.
(See Also Page 14)
Anti Semitism Forces 3,500' Jewish Soldiers to Leave
LONDON (JTA)—Jewish and non-Jewish circles, here are watch-
ing with interest the attitude of the ,Polish cfovernment-in-exile with
regard to the charges of anti-Semitism in thePolish Army voiced
last week in Parliament. The charges elicited a Polish reply an-
nouncing that Commander-in-Chief Gen. Kazimierz Sosnowski is
attempting to check the anti-Jewish feelings in the Polish armed
forces in Britain.
While 600 Jewish soldiers in the Polish Army in Britain are at
present asking to be transferred to British units in order to escape
the anti-Semitic atmosphere which they encounter, it was learned
' that anti-Jewish feelings in the ranks of the Polish Army in the
Middle East have forced about 3,500 Jewish soldiers there to leave
the Polish units and seek enlistment in the British Army or in Jewish
units servings with the British Army.
-
•
Will Discuss Polish Anti-Semitism
LONDON, (JTA)—The question of anti-Semitism in the
Polish Army, which was discussed in the, House of Commons last
week, will shortly be raised in the House of Lords, it was announced
by Tom Driberg, Independent member of Commons.
"The question of the mistreatment of Jewish soldiers in the
Polish armed forces is by no means settled," Driberg said. "The
attempts on the part of the Polish inquiry commission' to minimize
the anti-Semitic outbreaks would be more convincing if the con-
stitution and the procedure of this commission were clearly shown
to be impartial. The commission of five included four officers of the
Polish Army and not even one Jew. Nor was any Allied liaison
officer invited to join this commission, despite the interest taken
by the British Government in the matter."
Sir Herbert Bunnico, who is in charge of arranging concerts by
the government-sponsored ENSA organization for the entertain-
ment of British and Allied troops, this week revealed that the
Polish authorities did not allow him to include a Jew in a concert
program which was to be given for Polish soldiers.
Thousands of Jews Helped
By Russians to Escape Nazis
Non-Jewish Population in Sections Occupied by Enemy
Guide Them to Safety in Woods; Witnesses Tell
of Atrocities at Conference in Moscow
MOSCOW (JTA)-:--The non-Jewish population in the sections of
Russia which were occupied by the German Army help thousands of
Jews to escape from the Nazis, it was reported here by a number
of speakers addressing the third annual all-Jewish conference, being
attended by delegates from all parts of the U.S.S.R. and from the
armed forces and partisan groups.
A Jewish partisan, A. Chazanov, whose wife and children were
executed in occupied Byelorussia, told the conference how the Ger-
mans mercilessly massacred Jews in Byelorussian towns and how he
and others were given shelter by local non-Jews and guided by them
through the woods to Russian partisan units. He described the bru-
tality with which German units rounded up the Jews in each town
and led them to the suburbs to be machine-gunned. He also reported
on the activities of Jewish guerilla fighters and said that there are
thousands of them in Byelorussian woods.
(JPS•reports claim the Red Army found not a single Jew in
the liberated cities of Mozir and Kalikowichi. Soon after the
liberation, however, Jews began to emerge from the 'forests, and
it was revealed that they had performed major tasks in Partisan
collaboration with the Soviet forces. They had even published
a clandestine Yiddish newspaper.
Reports submitted to the conference added to the growing
archieVes of Nazi atrocities against the Jews. The reports told
of Jewish families who were burned on the pyre in the township
of Mikhalin; of the execution of all Jewish residents numbering
300 persons, in Lyasno, and the execution of 800 Jewish resi-
dents of Likovichi)-
Shachne Epstein, leader of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee,
addressing the conference, pointed out that though many Jews were
killed by the Germans during their occupation of Russian cities,
"the enemy has not succeeded in annihilating the majority of the
Jewish population because our government evacuated them far into
the interior of the country." The more territory the Red Army lib-
erates, he said, "the more we learn concerning the self-sacrifice of
Russians, Ukrainians, Byelorussians, Lithuanians and Moldavians
who risked their ownlives and saved the Jews from extermination."
Arrest Romanians Guilty of Killing Jews in Bessarabia
. LONDON, (JTA)—Russian authorities in occupied Romanian
territory have started rounding up Romanian war criminals, includ-
ing those who participated in executions of Jews in Bessarabia,
Bukavina and Transnistria, it is reported here. They will be placed
on trial in accordance with the statement of the Allies in which war
criminals were warned that they would have to pay for their crimes.
Czechoslovak Jewish organizations this week announced that
preparations are being made by Jewish leaders in London to restore
Jewish communal life in Carpatho-Ukraine and other parts of
Czechoslovakia as soon as these sections are liberated by Russian
and Czech troops.
Nazis Seize 210 Wealthy Hungarian Jews
ANKARA (JPS)—The Nazis reached into Monte Carlo to seize
210 wealthy Hungarian Jews, who for the past two years had found
a comparative haven in that city, it is reported here. They were all
brought back to Budapest. They include members of the million-
naire families Neufeld, Aush, Stein and Epstein, and stage star Cizi
Kazoni and her husband. There are rumors that they may be put
on trial on trumped-up charges in Nazi efforts to win approval of
Hungarian public opinion for the recently introduced Nuremberg
Laws.
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