Professor Robert Haas, a French Jew, who has been for years Chief of Section of the League of Nations Section on Communications and Transit, has been appointed by the Council of the League of Nations at its present session to be Director of the Section, in succession to Sir Arthur James Salter.
Professor Haas, who is 40 years of age, is the first Jew to hold the position of a Director of a League of Nations Department. He has been Professor at Paris University, and was Assistant Secretary of the Commission on Ports, Waterways and Railways at the Peace Conference in 1919.
The Section on Communications and Transit, of which he is now the head, is the Department of the League of Nations in charge of the question of Calendar Reform, in which Jews are vitally interested, because of the danger to Sabbath observance contained in the present calendar reform proposals before the League, which all threaten the principle of the fixity of the Sabbath.
The agenda of the Fourth General League of Nations Conference on Communications and Transit which will be opened in Geneva on October 26th., includes further consideration of the question of calendar reform, the item being down as the examination of the expediency from an economic and social standpoint of fixing movable feasts and of simplifying the Gregorian calendar.
Help ensure Jewish news remains accessible to all. Your donation to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency powers the trusted journalism that has connected Jewish communities worldwide for more than 100 years. With your help, JTA can continue to deliver vital news and insights. Donate today.
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.
