INJUSTICE TO POLES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19848, 17 January 1920, Page 8

INJUSTICE TO POLES.

OPEN LETTER TO ALLIED NATIONS. The peace of Europe is menaced by injustices done to Poland by the Allies, according to declarations made in an open letter to the Allied nations, signed by Polish leaders. Among the signers are tho heads of tho Homan Catholic, Armenian_ Catholio and Protestant churches in Poland, and presidents ot universities in “Warsaw, Cracow, Posen and Lvov, the mayors of these cities and tho editors of twenty-three Polish papers, Tho injustices charged are enumerated under ten headings, and, it is asserted, tho Allied diplomats wero “treacherously imposed upon” by the Germans, “ who conspired furiously against Poland by means of their own agents ns well as Jewish, Ukrainian, Bolshevik agents and others.” The first grievance mentioned is the establishment of the City of Danzig as a free state, possession of the port being declared “ indispensable to the development and expansion of Poland. PLEBISCITES DECLARED UNJUST. The letter further protests against the plebiscites ordered in the districts of Olsztyu, Allenstoin, part of Kwidzyn and especially in Upper Silesia. These districts aro declared to be essentially and historically Polish. In regard to Upper Silesia, t is claimed that a plebiscite was ordered “upon a simple demand of defeated Germany,” and in spite of the fact that possession of the district “ is a sine qua non condition of Poland’s economic development.” Respecting the widely published stories of .Jewish pogroms, the letter limits its argument “ to exemplifying two most salient facts.” It declares after tho liberation of Vilna the German Press spread reports of a pogrom in tho city in which 2000 Jews were massacred. An American correspondent is quoted ns having reported, after a thorough investigation ho found the story baseless and to have originated with the German wireless station in Konigsbcrg. The second instance mentioned is that of tho “ famous Lemberg pogrom, which tho Jews have represented before tbo public opinion of the world as a slaughter of innocent crowds.” In this case it is charged that tho only Jews lulled were, according to the official death registers of tho Jews, twenty-four .in number and that “ it has been verified that tho Jews were armed and were shooting at tbo Polish troops.” POLISH LIVES HELD LIGHTLY. Tho letter continues: “ The blood of thousands of Polos murdered by tho Ukrainians in Galicia seems to have weighed very lightly on tho scale of the peace conference,'constituted as a groat court of justice. Rut tho blood of thirty-four Jews in Lemberg was weighed so heavily on tho other scale that, forgetting all tboblood shed by tho Christians, tho pence conference went so far as to impose certain limitations upon the sovereignty of the Polish State, creating a commission of international control or tho security of tho Jews in Poland.” After declaring anything that is prejudicial to Poland is a triumph for Germany, “and increases her power to be used in a world’s war to come.” tho loiter concludes: “ And this is why, while expressing to the Allied nations our deepest amt eternal gratitude for tho help they gave us in reconstructing the Polish State wo are bound to affirm in this solemn moment that as long ns full justice is not granted to us and as long as f u ]i amends are not done for our wrongs tho basis of European peace will pot be such ns it should bo—neither secure nor dura bio.”