Both American diplomacy and the American Jews relatively rapidly noticed the significance of the death of Marshal Józef Pilsudski for the situation of the Jewish population in Poland. The American ambassadors: John Cudahy and Anthony J. Drexel Biddle, Jr. observed a rise of anti-Jewish moods in Poland, including the official state circles, in the second half of the 1930s. At the same time, they stressed the positive role played by Pilsudski in stifling Polish anti-Semitism. A similar dependence between the death of the Marshal and the increased tide of anti-Semitism was perceived by the American Jewish Committee in its annual reports from 1936-1937. Respect expressed for Józef Pilsudski and, by contrast, disapproval for his political epigones, are to be found in the declarations made by the Federation of Polish Jews in America. The important 'New York Times' also accentuated the positive part performed by Pilsudski for the Jewish minority in Poland.
