6 Jewish Lawyers Ousted from Jassy Bar for “technical Error”

The first effect of the Union of Rumanian Lawyers’ decision to bar from membership persons not of “pure Rumanian blood” came today when six Jewish advocates were excluded from the Jassy Bar Association on the ground they had acquired membership through “technical error.”

The six lawyers, all members of the Lawyers’ Appeal Commission of Jassy, had been members of the Bar Association for five years. Their names are Segal, Barasch, Rotman, Smarach, Alterescu and Calman. They said they would communicate with the Ministry of Justice to protest their exclusion.

Nationalist newspapers stated that “this is merely the beginning of a cleansing action throughout Rumania in bar associations.”

A decision to exclude “non-Rumanians” by striking them off the registers “on technical grounds” was adopted at a general meeting of the union in Bucharest on May 10. A special committee was named to revise registrations to find “technical errors.” These errors are determined arbitrarily.

Prior to the exclusion of the lawyers in Jassy, Undersecretary of Justice M.A. Bontoiu had denied in an interview with the press that the Rumanian Government would accept the decision of the Congress of Rumanian Bar Associations to restrict membership of members of national minorities.

“The Minister of Justice,” Mr. Bontoiu said, “sees no ground why he should take any action against the Union of Rumanian Bar Associations since the resolutions adopted by the congress have not yet been put into force. There has been, therefore, no violation of the laws of the country yet. The Ministry of Justice, consequently, does not deem it necessary to take any measures against these associations of Rumanian lawyers.”