The General Secretary of the League of Nations has recognized the urgency of the two petitions presented to the minorities section earlier this week for intervention in behalf of the Jews in the plebiscite region of Upper Silesia, and the petitions will be submitted directly to the League Council for consideration.
The importance of this recognition of the urgency of the situation, stressed by Dr. Leo Motzkin and Dr. Emil Margulies when they presented the petition, lies in that, instead of following the routine procedure of referring the petitions first to the accused state for its observations, the complaints will be communicated directly to the council.
The decision of the General Secretary has aroused considerable interest in League circles. The petition of the Upper Silesian Jewish citizens, submitted under Article 147 of the German-Polish convention, is being immediately placed on the council agenda, while the petition of Jewish organizations under Article 72 of the same convention, in accordance with general minorities procedure, will be turned over to a committee of three members of the council for investigation.
This committee of three will meet beginning next week. It is expected to recommend that the petition submitted by the Jewish organizations in various countries be considered by the council simultaneously with that of the Upper Silesian Jews.
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