FROM the time that Germany came under Nazi control, the Jewish community in Poland felt it had to protest vigorously and take concrete action. One way to do so, besides political propaganda, was to boycott German goods. Although this campaign was directed against a limited number of products, it could be expected to have a noticeable effect in Germany. The idea of opposing the increasing advance of Nazism and antisemitism by an economic boycott was suggested by the Polish delegation during the World Jewish Congress of August 1932 in Geneva. The Polish representatives insisted: 'The Jews can only respond by taking active boycott measures, and only historical necessity forces the nation to fight back with methods borrowed from its enemies.’

When Adolf Hitler was appointed Reichskanzler in 1933, the Jewish population of many countries became involved in the boycott campaign. In the same year a Convention of Jewish Boycott Committees from various countries was held in Amsterdam. The chairman was Dr Untermayer, a brilliant lawyer from the United States, and speakers included Rabbi Stephen Wise and Rabbi Sacerdoti from Italy. The Polish delegation officially represented ‘all the Polish Jews, who are determined to fight for human rights until victory. An economic struggle with Germany is a new and unprecedented stage in Jewish history.'

The next World Jewish Congress, which concentrated on the struggle against the persecution of Jews in Germany, was held in London in 1933, and the Polish delegates were the deputy Wadaw Wislicki and the senator Rafal Szereszewski. At the congress it was decided to establish a World Committee, headed by a leading representative of the American Jews, and with Wadaw Wislicki as vice-president.

A ‘Centralny Komitet Antyhitlerowskiej Akcji Gospodarczej’ (CK AAG: Central Committee for Anti-Nazi Economic Action) had already been set up in Poland at the beginning of 1933 to co-ordinate and develop a boycott campaign. The Central Committee and the campaign were organized by the Central Headquarters of the Union of Jewish Merchants, with the deputy Wadaw Wislicki as chairman. The Central Headquarters’ action included publishing a periodical, Nasza obrona [Our defence], which first appeared in November 1933 and then in February 1934. It was edited by Leo Finkelstein.