n the
ranks of the fighters for Polish independence. The "National Government"
in Warsaw could not resist this patriotic pressure. It addressed itself
to the "Congregational Board" of Warsaw, inquiring about the attitude of
the Jewish community towards the projected formation of a separate
regiment of Jewish volunteers. The Board replied that the community had
already given proofs of its patriotism by contributing 40,000 Gulden
towards the revolutionary funds, and by collecting further contributions
towards the equipment of volunteers. The formation of a _special_ Jewish
regiment the Board did not consider advisable, inasmuch as such action
was not in keeping with the task of uniting all citizens in the defence
of the fatherland. Instead, the Board favored the distribution of the
Jewish volunteers over the whole army.

[Footnote 1: Compare Vol. I, p. 293 et seq.]

From now on the Jews were admitted to military service, but more into
the militia than into the regular army. The commander of the National
Guard in Warsaw, Anton Ostrovski, one of the few rebel leaders who were
not swayed by the anti-Semitic prejudices of the Polish nobility,
admitted into his militia many Jewish volunteers on condition that they
shave off their beards. Owing to the religious scruples of many Jewish
soldiers, the latter condition had to be abandoned, and a special
"bearded" detachment of the metropolitan guard was formed, comprising
850 Jews.

The Jewish militia acquitted itself nobly of its duty in the grave task
of protecting the city of Warsaw against the onrush of the Russian
troops. The sons of wealthy families fought shoulder to shoulder with
children of the proletariat. The sight of these step-children of Poland
fighting for their fatherland stirred the heart of Ostrovski, and he
subsequently wrote: "This spectacle could not fail to make your heart
ache. Our conscience bade us to attend to the betterment of this most
down-trodden part of our population at the earliest possible moment."

It is worthy of note that the wave of Polish-Jewish patriotism did not
spread beyond Warsaw. In the provincial towns the inhabitants of the
ghetto were, as a rule, unwilling to serve in the army on the ground
that the Jewish religion forbade the shedding of human blood. This
indifference aroused the ire of the Polish population, which threatened
to wreak vengeance upon the Jews, suspecting them of pro-Russian
sympathies. Ostrovski's remark with refe