now see that they have erred. One of them said to me: “I see that the Jewish masses are neglected in terms of ethics and civilisation, but it's our fault. We lived in the beautiful neighbourhoods, separated ourselves from our brothers. Now the time has come for us to work together with them to ensure their improvement, so that we can look forward to a better tomorrow.” Most assimilators no longer believe in Polish–Jewish understanding. Particularly those who have experienced injustice from the Poles. They think about emigrating, to Palestine in the first place, then South America. What conclusions do I have about the life of assimilationists? More reflective individuals have gone through an internal catharsis of some kind. They see that assimilationism has completely failed as an agent of Polish–Jewish coexistence. They have discovered compassion and sympathy for the Jewish masses. These two characteristics should be expanded with a third one—namely, national awareness among the assimilationist intelligentsia. Through the supply of intelligent individuals from assimilationist milieux, Jewish life will be enriched with many outstanding people who, unfortunately, are absent from Warsaw’s Jewish life. These are my theses.
Władko.
ARG I 598 (Ring. I/36).
Description: original, typewritten with handwritten amendments, Polish, 220x355 mm, minor damage and missing fragments, 11 sheets, 11 pages.
Published in: Selected Documents, pp. 620–634.
[1] On Friday, 8 August 1941, in the afternoon, passers-by noticed an obituary on the wall of the church on Leszno Street near Karmelicka Street, which read as follows: “The late Jerzy Blay, medical doctor, former deputy chairman of the Warsaw-Białystok Physicians’ Chamber, former deputy chairman of the Association of Doctors, former deputy chairman of the Doctors’ Association,
