Deterioration of Jewish Situation in Czecho-slovakia Reported by Joint Foreign Committee to Jewish B

The situation in Germany is still uncertain, says the Report of the Joint Foreign Committee presented to the meeting of the Jewish Board of Deputies held to-day, though the prospects of a working coalition between the Government and the Hitlerists, it adds, now seem more remote. The Chancellor, Dr. Bruening, in a recent speech, made a vigorous attack on the Hitlerists, whom he described as “irresponsible propagandists”.

Recent information from Roumania, the Report proceeds, tends to show that the Government is now inclined to take much stronger measures than previously in an endeavour to control the campaign of antisemitic calumny and incitement.

The Committee has learned from Press reports from Czecho-Slovakia that complaint is made of the administrative difficulties placed in the way of Staatenlose who apply for Czecho-Slovak citizenship. According to the statistics of the Minister of the Interior, in a period of 8 years, out of 12,000 Jewish Staatenlose 772 have received grants of citizenship, while 768 have been expelled. The protracted proceedings in the blood-libel case still pending in that country evoked sharp protests and the Czech Press has called upon the Ministry of Justice to intervene. Two Jewish hawkers were accused at Velka Berezna of having drawn blood from the arms of two Christian schoolchildren for ritual purposes. It is alleged that the children confessed to the Headmaster of their school that they had fabricated their story, but the Public Prosecutor has instituted proceedings against the Headmaster for stating that he heard the children threatened that they would be punished if they did not give evidence against the accused. Further information is awaited on the subject of the reported intention of the Czecho-Slovakian Government to enforce a Sunday Closing Law which would detrimentally affect the Jewish population. Other incidents in that country point to a certain deterioration in the situation of the Jewish population.

Both the Polish and Lithuanian Governments are reported to be about to enforce measures which would adversely affect the Jewish Staatenlosen in those countries, the Committee further reported, but the Committee has not been requested by the representative Jews of any of those countries to intervene, and for the moment does not propose to take any action, but will continue to watch the situation carefully.

The Executive of the Jewish Agency for Palestine has been good enough to inform the Committee that steps are now being taken to secure the evacuation from Aden of the Jewish orphan refugees who have been there for some eighteen months. They number about 130, of whom 67 are under fifteen years of age.

LEGAL PROTECTION FOR RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES AGAINST LIBEL: NOTHING CAN BE DONE LAW AND PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE REPORTS TO BOARD.

It would be a mistake to think that there is no machinery under the criminal law to afford protection for religious communities against libel, Mr. Ernest Lesser said, speaking on the report of the Law and Parliamentary Committee. If the case was sufficiently serious the ancient means of procedure by way of criminal information could be used. Mr. Lesser cited a case some 150 years old when this procedure was used by a Jewish community.

Mr. H. H. Haldin K.C. said that the Committee had gone carefully into the matter and had come to the conclusion that nothing could be done. There was not the slightest chance of getting the law altered. In regard to using the method of criminal information for which it was necessary to obtain the fiat of the Attorney General before it could be set in motion it was necessary to prove that the allegations made would load to a breach of the peace. He did not think that a judge or jury would come to the conclusion that a breach of the peace would ensue from the alleged libel on a religious community to-day.

The question came-up on a correspondence which the Law and Parliamentary Committee had recently with an American Jewish organisation on the subject of an anti-Jewish pamphlet which was being imported from this country into the United States by means of the post. Enquiries addressed to the American and English postal authorities elicited replies that no action could be taken as the pamphlet in question was not indecent or obscene. The American organisation strongly urged that the Board should give fresh consideration to the possibility of securing better legal protection for religious communities against libel. The Committee had considered the matter on several occasions, but in deference to the strongly expressed desire of the Press Committee had once more given the matter consideration and as a result, it reported that it could not alter the opinion it previously reported to the Board, that it is inadvisable that the Board should take steps to secure an amendment of the law.

THE RIGHT OF BRITISH SUBJECTS OF JEWISH FAITH WHO ARE CHILDREN OF IMMIGRANTS TO OBTAIN CIVIL SERVICE APPOINTMENTS.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews, as the elected representative body of the Jews of the Empire, has a special interest in the working of this rule, on account of those British subjects of the Jewish faith who are children of immigrants who fled to this country from about 1880 onwards, in consequence of the anti-Jewish policy of the Russian Government, says a memorandum presented by the Board to the Royal Commission on the Civil Service, on the subject of the Nationality Regulations for appointments in the Civil Service, the text of which was circulated to-day by the Law and Parliamentary Committee.

The Board, in drawing attention to this class of British subject, the memorandum proceeds, does not ask for concessions for British Jews as such, as the representations that follow, whilst drawn up with special relevance to the Jewish community, apply in general to all British-born subjects who are the children of recent immigrants to this country. The persons on behalf of whom consideration is sought have been born in this country and educated at British schools. From the point of view of outlook, sympathy with British ideals, and loyalty, they are indistinguishable from other British subjects beside whom they have sat in school. They are thoroughly identified with the interests of this country, and are often unaware that there are circumstances which exclude them from the Civil Service until their desire to enter the service of the Crown leads to the discovery of their disability. The disappointment is bound to awaken in the mind of a young person excluded by the regulations a sense of bitterness at the discrimination. In many cases their relatives may have served their country during the war, and there is no reason to suppose that they would not themselves make equal sacrifices if called upon. They have no attachment to any other country, and no desire to make their homes elsewhere, and it is inconceivable that any danger to the State would arise from their employment in the Civil Serivice. It should be noted that British subjects may be born and educated abroad, and yet be eligible for the Civil Service, provided their parents are natural-born British subjects, and they may even be eligible for the Foreign Office.

POSITION OF JEWISH NON-PROVIDED SCHOOLS UNDER NEW EDUCATION ACT.

The position of Jewish non-provided schools under the proposed Education Bill was considered by the Education Committee of the Board, it was reported to the meeting. Lady Spielman, the Chairman of the Committee, who is also Chairman of the Association of the Jewish Metropolitan Non-Provided Schools, acquainted the Committee with the steps that have been taken by the Association to bring the needs of Jewish non-provided schools to the notice of the Minister of Education.

The Association of Jewish Metropolitan Non-Provided Schools is composed of representatives of all the Jewish non-provided schools of which there are seven in London and three in the provinces and attended by 5,000 children, Lady Spielman explained to the Board. The number was a small one in comparison with the five million child population of the schools of the country, and the number of Jewish children attending non-provided schools, she was sorry to say, was diminishing. Last week a conference of representatives of non-provided schools was summoned at the instance of Sir Charles Trevelyan, the Minister of Education. No Jewish representative was present. What the Association did feel was that it was most essential that they should approach the Minister with regard to the teaching of religion in the Jewish schools. We feel, Lady Spielman said, that the prospect of having teachers appointed by the local authority would be a most serious disadvantage to the Jewish schools. The right we demand is the right of appointing our own teachers. That being the case the Association has approached the President of the Board of Education and has asked him to receive a small deputation. Mr. H. M. Adler, the Director of Jewish Education and myself, Lady Spielman said, will constitute the deputation, and Mr. Michael Marcus M.P. has agreed to introduce us.

Mr. Percy Cohen said they would have been more glad if the Jewish community had been represented at the Conference summoned by Sir Charles Trevelyan.

Mr. Ernst Schiff, President of the Jewish Roligious Education Board, said that the figure of 5,000 Jewish children was a misleading one. A moving population was perhaps the reason why the schools were not so full, but redistribution would mean larger numbers and the question of accommodation was an important one.