(Jewish Telegraphic Agency)
Interesting facts were disclosed here in connection with court proceedings brought by the teachers of the Jewish schools which were maintained by the Baron de Hirsch Fund in Galicia and Bukowina. The trial disclosed the fact that the shares in which the Baron de Hirsch Fund invested its monies originally had the value of 12,000,000 gold francs, but had decreased to a value of 700,000 because of the depreciation in the exchange.
In addition to this, the Polish government recently arranged for the transfer of 500,000 francs of the remaining sum to Warsaw.
The court expressed the hope that strict diplomatic steps will be taken by the Austrian government with Warsaw. It was further disclosed that at the time the rate of Austrian exchange fell, after the war the directors of the Fund exchanged the shares they held into Polish currency at a heavy loss. The directors explained that this step was taken because Galicia had become part of Poland and therefore the obtaining of funds in Polish currency was necessary.
It developed during the trial that most of the school buildings were destroyed during the war. The Board of the Fund, with headuarters in Vienna, realizing that they could not administrate schools in Polish territory from Vienna, intend to sell the schools.
Abraham Stern, a practicing lawyer in New York for more than fifty years and a former member of the Board of Education, died Monday, in his seventy-fifth year.
A native of this city, Mr. Stern was educated in the public schools here and Columbia College and Law School.
From 1915 to 1926 Mr. Stern was a trustee of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum, and on his retirement was made an honorary trustee. He was a member of the Harmonic Club.
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.
