An order prohibiting Aryan lawyers from entering into partnerships with or sharing the offices of Jewish lawyers was issued by the Lawyers’ Association here today. The association ordered that law partnerships dating back to September, 1930, must be dissolved wherever a Jew and an Aryan were together. The partnerships must be broken up, it was commanded, even if the Jewish partner has not yet been dismissed from office due to the fact that he is a war veteran.
It was indicated at the same time by the Lawyers’ Association that a larger dismissal of Jewish notaries is expected shortly. The first two lists of dismissals of Jewish notaries were merely the beginning, it was hinted. In the near future such serious restrictions will be imposed that only those Jewish notaries who were appointed before the war will remain in office.
LAWYERS’ COLLECTIVES
Considering the fact that under the German Empire Jewish lawyers were promoted to the rank of notaries only when they reached an advanced age, only a small number of them still are in office. All the others, who were appointed under the republic, face dismissal.
More than 1,200 German-Jewish lawyers who formerly were officially permitted to appear in courts have now been advised by the authorities to form collective organizations. Each collective, it was ordered, should consist of ten Jewish lawyers, and only one representative of each collective may appear in court on the same day.
The official reason given for this advice was that the appearance of a large number of Jewish lawyers in court would enrage the populace at the present time. In reality, however, the advice is tantamount to an order reducing the number of Jewish lawyers who may appear in court to one-tenth of the former number. From now on 120 lawyers instead of 1,200 will be able to practice in German courts.
Judges have been warned against making any attempts to help poverty-stricken Jewish lawyers by appointing them as counsel for the poor or as executors. Any attempt by a judge to help a Jewish lawyer will result in his dismissal, the order stated.
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.
