The fifty-fourth session of the Council of the League of Nations which will open here on March 4 will go thoroughly into the problem of protection for the national minorities, which became a matter of international concern with the coming into operation of the peace treaties and the establishment of the League of Nations.
Having dealt with the national minorities’ problem on various occasions since the close of the World War rather inadequately, the question has now been put on the agenda of the League Council at the specific request of Germany’s Foreign Minister, Stresemann, in a communication to the Secretariat. General of the League.
This request of the German government is of particular interest when it is recalled that at the last League session Stresemann got into heated conflict with Poland’s Foreign Minister, August Zaleski, over the alleged mistreatment of the German minority in Polish Silesia. At that time Stresemann banged that if the League is to take lightly its obligations toward the national minorities the League itself would lose its significance in the eyes of many nations.
The placing on the agenda of this question has aroused world wide interest. Leaders of the national minorities in Europe place much hope on this session as it is expected it will, to a large extent, bring clarity into the situation. The agenda also includes a discussion of the much talked about procedure in regard to the petitions of national minorities in complaint against the governments of their countries of residence.
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