Georg Bernhard, former editor of the Pariser Tageblatt, was fined 200 francs for libel in a French court today and ordered to pay 10,000 francs moral damages to Vladimir Poliakoff, publisher of the German emigre paper, for declaring that Poliakoff had sold out the paper to Nazi interests.
Dr. Bernhard was also ordered to have published, at his own expense, the verdict in five newspaper chosen by Poliakoff.
The court declared that Dr. Bernhard had acted in bad faith when he charged Poliakoff with having sold out the paper to the Nazis.
In June, 1936, the staff of the Tageblatt resigned, publishing in the paper charges that Mr. Poliakoff had sold out to Nazi interests. Dr. Bernhard, who was then in New York, supported the charges in a statement to the press.
In March of this year a German refugee journalists’ committee which investigated the case declared that Dr. Bernhard had acted in good faith in leveling the charges against Poliakoff, although a minority filed a report accusing Dr. Bernhard and his associates of bad faith.
Previously, a committee of Jewish leaders, headed by the late Dr. Henry Sliosberg, had cleared Poliakoff of the charges against him.
Dr. Bernhard is now the editor of the Pariser Tageszeitung, an anti-Nazi newspaper which he founded in association with former staff members of the Tageblatt.
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.
