Legal Committee Overrides German Claims, Council Takes Up Bernheim Case Tuesday

The committee of jurists to which the Council of the League of Nations on Monday referred questions regarding the validity of the Bernheim petition against violation of Jewish rights in Upper Silesia, raised by the German delegation, has rejected the German claims, it was learned today.

The Council is expected to meet next Tuesday to consider the committee’s report.

The committee, composed of Dr. Max Huber, former Swiss vicepresident of the Council; Dr. Manuel Pedroso, of Spain, and Dr. Maurice Bourquin, of Belgium, me# yesterday and considered the German objections. Their decision that the claims were baseless, was unanimous, it was learned.

A German representative appeared before the committee this afternoon in support of the German contentions that the petition was invalid since Bernheim was not a president of Upper Silesia, and that in any case, his claim for damages brought the matter within the province of the Upper Silesian courts.

A Polish representative also addressed the committee. Poland is an interested party in the case since the Upper Silesian territory is administered under the terms of a German-Polish convention. League juridical circles professed the opinion today that the committee verdict would of necessity be against Germany.

Germany had admitted its international obligations in Upper Silesia must not be infringed upon by internal legislation, in its declaration to the Council last Friday.

The second point emphasized in Mr. Lester’s report was that the German Government must pledge that persons, who because they belong to a minority, have lost their employment and are unable to practice their trades, or professions, in consequence of the application of the new laws will be reinstated in their old positions without delay.

Mr. Lester demanded that Germany keep the rapporteur informed regarding the measures and means used for reinstating the Jews. The fourth point in the report was that Upper Silesian Jews who suffered losses as a result of anti-Semitic laws, particularly personal losses, and Bernheim himself should be compensated. Mr. Lester suggested that the Council investigate losses through the Upper Silesian local courts. Following his report, the head of the German delegation, Friedrich von Keller, declared the Government could not accept the report because first, the German Government does not consider Bernheim a resident of Upper Silesia, second, even if Bernheim were a legal resident he could only submit a claim on his own behalf and not on that of the entire Upper Silesian Jewry. In the third place, von Keller stated, Bernheim’s claims for damages is a case for local courts and not for the Council. He concluded by pointing out that the German Government trusted the Council would consider itself satisfied by Friday’s declaration.

DELEGATES SMILE

Von Keller’s speech caused ironical smiles among the other delegates present. The Italian chairman of the session, Guido Biancheri, suggested that since the German Government was again questioning the validity of the Bernheim petition, the matter should be transferred to a jurists’ committee to establish whether the German contention was justified.

Mr. Lester agreed to this on condition that the Council would not terminate its session until the committee had concluded its investigation within a week or a fortnight, and taken the matter up. Following discussion on the question, in which representatives of many countries participated, the question of appointing a committee of jurists was unanimously carried with Germany abstaining from voting. After the vote was recorded, Mr. Lester announced that the Council would reconvene within forty-eight hours after the committee reported on its investigation of the status of the Bernheim case.