Germans Seek to Prevent League Consideration of Bernheim Plea

The German delegation scored a victory late today and succeeded in preventing placing of the Bernheim petition on the agenda of the League of Nations Council for tomorrow. It is learned from the League secretariat that while tomorrow’s agenda will contain the question of protection of minorities in Upper Silesia, it will not include the Bernheim case. On the contrary, it will have the cases of Germans in Polish Silesia against Poland.

Efforts were being made by German representatives here today to utilize the important political negotiations, now going on, as a means to exert pressure on the Powers to prevent discussion of the petitions pending here regarding the status of the Jews in the plebiscite region of Upper Silesia.

Germany has already succeeded in causing a delay in consideration of the petitions, which at the carliest, it appears now, are unlikely to come up before the end of the week and may possibly be deferred to next week.

Officially, the German argument remains that Franz Bernheim, the urgency of whose plea that Nazi anti-Jewish laws effected in Upper Silesia are in violation of the Polish-German convention, was recognized by the League of Nations Council yesterday, was not born in Silesia and therefore cannot petition the League under Article 147 of the convention.

The League’s legal experts today weer studying the German arguments and their decision on this point is expected to be presented to the Council tomorrow.

Meanwhile, two other petitions presented to the League last week—one in behalf of several Jewish organizations in various parts of the world, and the other by the parliamentary club of Jewish deputies of Poland (Kolo)—are under consideration by the committee of three to whom they were referred. If the Bernheim petition is ruled out by the legal experts, on the grounds cited by the German representatives, the remaining petitions, it is believed, will most likely not be brought before the Council.