With all hope of renewing the Polish-German Upper Silesian Minorities Convention gone, a sharp conflict between Poland and Germany in the territory appeared to be looming today.
Joseph Wagner, Nazi governor of the German portion of the territory, declared last night that as soon as the convention expired on May 15 the Nazis would issue retaliatory measures against Poles in the German section because of what he called oppression of Germans in the Polish district.
Germany had been understood to be seeking renewal of the convention to protect Germans against a “Polonization” campaign expected to begin in Polish Upper Silesia after May 15, but the German press yesterday announced the agreement would definitely not be renewed.
Germany had been seeking renewal despite the fact that non-renewal will give her the opportunity to extend the Nuremberg laws and other anti-Semitic legislation to the German part of the territory, where formerly it could not be applied under the treaty. Now, however, it is expected that as soon as the pact expires Jews in German Upper Silesia will come under the same laws as their co-religionists in the Reich proper.
The convention between Poland and Germany, providing for the protection of equal rights of all minorities in Upper Silesia, was signed under the auspices of the League of Nations on May 15, 1922, for a period of fifteen years and has since been administered by a Mixed Claims Commission under the League.
When Germany left the League, she chose to continue the convention in the interests of her own minorities in Polish Upper Silesia.
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.
