The Denver Jewish news., 1919-10-22
3, HERMAN BERfssTE,N.
LCepyrieht. 1919. By the Nese York Herols
Compomv-AH Rights Reserred.1

I arrived in Warsaw on July Q. wen
out to the jewish quarter and talked t.
number Of people in the streets and IL
restaurants, asked them whether ther'
were any pogroms in Poland.
Jewish carpenter answered:-"Tht
posroms in Poland are not as bad al
the humiliation which the Jews are forced
to, suffer. We are abused and attacked
By the, soldiers and there Is nobody to de
fsnd US. We are afraid to go out in the
streeta. A lew is not safe In the streets
Of warsaw"
In, one. Of the restaurants q Jewish
waiter. answering my questions. said
II have. seen number of attacks on
JeWs with my own eyes. have seen Jews
thrown out Of trains have seen old
JsWS boards cut off with sabres. have
seen Jews beaten mercilessly. have seen
now an old Jew who passed one Of the
was threatened with shooting. Thousands
of'Jews stood by afraid to interfere. After
AL. the soldiers had guns and the Jews
nad none. The Jews knew that the slight
estinterferenca would have meant the be-
SHINING Of pogrom. Some one tele-
eraphed to q Jewish member of the Diet
ana The lew was saved"
Saw = Jew Murdered.
A big. stout clean shaven. Polish Jew.
seen any attacks on Jaws during the pas
few weeks. replied:-4
Last Thursday saw an old Jew chased
by band of soldiers into the Jewish
ers tried to defend the old Jew. The SOL
diers then struck the Jew on the head
with block OF wood, killing him on the
SPOT They stuck q bayonet into the chest
OF the :eventy-four yehr old Jew. hut he
survived. The butcher who tried to de-
fend tho Jew was saved as by miracle.
the Polish jew who related this Incl
dent spoke with deep emotion. He paused
awhile. thenoasked:-
Can you tell me when the gates of
America or England will be opened for i'm
migrants? Thank God am making a
good living. But my heart'-and he
struck his chest-"my heart Is bleeding.
can't bear to see my poor people abused,
attacked and Inundated. I'd like to run
away-far. far away-to free America or
England"
A prominent Jewish writer said to me
that evening
When patriarchal rabbi. respected by
thc whole community. walks out of the
pet and IL caught by Polish soldiers and
his beard ID cut off. amid the derision
andiaushter of the Polish mob. il IL worse
Tsar's government pogrom makers were
ponished In 1881. when the first Jewish
posrom broke out In Russia. hundreds Of
sfests were made. After the Kishineff
s.oSAo many arrests were mQQG.
= true the, poeromists were later par-
doned by the Tsar, but the government
II ieast tried to show that It was against
pogrons But in Poland there is not the
susntest semblance Of legal forrnality.
No measures of any kind have been taken
10 punish anybody in connection with these
crimes"
A man connected with the Polisi, govern
ment. speaking of the official reports OF
poEroSns. said to me in Confidence
There are two truths with regard to |
Jewish affairs and excuses in Poland, one
for the archives and the other for the
press"
said that was Interested in getting
The truth that. the Polish government kent
In its archives. The official replied
mere are certain things that cannot |
be published for political reasons"
To which answered:-'Tf the truth in |
terferes with your politics, IL Is time that
Tour government changed its politics."
Frsu. sfe.ser Of the Diet.
A member of the Diet said to me:-
since 1905 the Poles have been anti
semftic on economic grounds. While the /
RUSSIANS We're here during the war, the /
Jews wore charged with siding with the |
Germans. During the stay of the Ger
mans. the Jews were blamed for having |
q Russtan orientation. Several years agoJ
mo POLES commenced their conflict with
the Jews for economic dominat ton. The |
eoonomie boycott was introduced and car
fore the Poles were in power. sNow they
are using the government organ to build 4
up Polish economic strength against the /
Jews. In Russia the intellectuais pro 1
tested In time OF pogroms while in Poland /
there aro no Poles who protest against +
the pogroms. This is due to the peculiar
Polish psychology. Other people. having Y
done wrong. would admit 1t, saying
Yes. We have done wrong We will see |.
10 1t that no such outrages occur again. Il
But the Poles. even when they realixe1i
bad. they are to blame; that's why vel
bad to resort to these excesses'" II
Another prominent Jewish writer said Ii
to me:-
we experienced the Russian pogroms
We knew so many were killed in Kishineff
or Homel. We knew so many nails were
driven into the heads of Jews. So many
outraEes were committed. They lasted
two or three days. Then the pogropl was
over. The people admitted that they had
been ordered to do these things. They
We're crazed with drink. They became
friendly again, In Poland it is different.
Instead of a series of pogrons we have
here one continuous pogrom--a chronic
pogrom-which is far worse than the
others. though the casualties may be
fewer. 1t is all the result of the peculiar
Polish psychology. The Poles arc not
antisemites in the accepted sense of the
term. The Poles always had n certain
contempt for the Jews They called them
Moshkas, From time to time they changed
their tactics, they changed their methods
somewhat. but they remained the same.
Their psychology has not changed"
Minister Of Interiors Views.
Two days after my arrival in Warsaw
/ visited the Minister of the Interior. Mr..
Woiciechowski. with letter of introduce
ton from Premier Paderewski. asked
hin, whether the anti-Jewish outrages
were still going on in Poland. The Minis
fof the Interior replied
During the past two months VIC have
caught no civilians attacking Jews. AL
most all the excesses were caused by the
military. by men of General Haller's
army. About ten thousand of them have