Friday, a monthly magazine published in Cleveland, discusses the problem of the national minorities and wonders whether the League of Nations is sufficiently active in solving this problem. The publication states:
The minorities problem was the match that touched off the fuse on the powder box of Central Europe in 1913. Now, over twenty years later, the powder box is as much in evidence as ever. The fuse dangles temptingly, and the match flares with a flame visible to the entire civilized world.
As a matter of fact the flame has never been extinguished. At Versailles statesmen played with it a while but left it flickering. To the League of Nations it has been a major problem and a major trouble. To the world it has been a constant threat.
Today numerous minority groups are filing grievances with the League, and justly so. The Hungarians in Rumania, and there are almost two millions of them, are complaining bitterly. They decry the fact that their children are not taught the culture of their people, that their petitioners are denied to plead in their native tongue. In Czechoslovakia the situation has been aggravated by the aggressiveness and disregard of boundaries of the Third Reich. With some three and one-half million Germans in its western area the danger grows, despite the carefull treatment of the Czech government.
Most evident, of course, is the problem of the Jewish minorities. The German treatment is well known. Now, in Rumania, since Mme. Lupescu, Jewish-born friend of King Carol, has become the target of bitter attacks, the situation there has become quite critical.
The examples are numerous and the impending disaster evident. They grow worse as new countries inform the League that they cannot cooperate in matters relating to the execution of minority treaties.
For the League it is an acid test. To date it has been ruling out and pigeon-holing petitions of minorities. If the problem can be solved, it will of necessity require the aid of an international agency. Will the League make good?
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
