Warsaw (Mar. 30)
How can the Government talk glibly of improving the Jewish situation when hundreds of thousands of Jews in Warsaw alone, to say nothing of the provinces, where the situation is much worse, are being forced to beg for charity in order to have food for Passover, the Jewish press asks in commenting on the Government statements to the J.T.A., particularly the reference by the Prime Minister to the efforts of the Government to improve the Jewish situation.
The Government has abolished the Czarist restrictions, which in practice amounts to nothing, the papers say, but what about relieving the Jews from their heavy burden of taxation, modifying the Compulsory Sunday Closing law, or giving employment to Jews in Government institutions?
The number of Jews in Warsaw who have applied for Passover relief has now increased to 80,000 (a few days ago, in announcing that 9,600 applications for Passover aid had been registered by the Warsaw Jewish Community, it was stated that such a figure had never before been approached in Warsaw).
In making public this total, the Jewish pres gives grim details of the extent of the impoverishment existing among the Jewish population of Warsaw, stating that many Jews who have been really wealthy have been pledging their last valuables in the pawnshops in order to provide food for Passover. The Jewish Community and the various Jewish charitable organisations here are besieged by thous ands of people, most of them old people, standing in the lines for hours to obtain a few zlotys.