Because of a difference in one year, Prof. Schpeier, the probable representative of Belgian Jewry on the Council of the Jewish Agency lost the race for membership in the Luxembourg provincial Senate.
Prof. Schpeier ran on the ticket of the Liberal party. He was opposed by numerous opposition groups, including the Socialists. When the votes were counted, it developed that Schpeier and an indeepndent candidate, Jabon, received an equal number of votes. The president of the Senate, to whom the matter was referred, ordered that the matter be decided, instead of by a new election, by a determination as to who is older. When both candidates produced their birth certificates, it appeared that the independent Jabon was 60 years of age where as Schpeier was 59.
Prof. Schpeier’s Jewishness figured prominently in the campaign. Even the Socialist organ, “Revue de Luxembourg,” attacked him as a “Judas, who came to buy out Belgium with his millions.” It is charged that the ruling to determine the election, by the age of the candidate, was found the most convenient way of barring the Jew since their respective ages were known in advance.
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.
