Bernheim petition

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In 1933, the Bernheim petition sparked a debate in the League of Nations about the anti-Semitic policies of the National Socialist German government . The result was that the anti-Jewish measures in the German part of Upper Silesia were suspended until 1937.

Emergence

Franz Bernheim (1899–1990) had lived for some time in the part of Upper Silesia that remained German. As a Jew , he had been dismissed as an employee of a department store and had subsequently emigrated to Prague .

In May 1933, with the help of the Comité des Délégations Juives from Paris, he sent a petition to the League of Nations in Geneva. The Jewish organizations had recognized that the current German-Polish agreement on Upper Silesia of 1922, with its guarantee of minority rights, provided a legal basis under international law for bringing Germany, with the help of the League of Nations, to repeal anti-Semitic measures in Upper Silesia, or to establish its continued breach of contract. The League of Nations was designated in the treaty as arbitrator for possible disputes. The organization persuaded Bernheim to sign the petition that had already been completed.

It complained about the anti-Jewish measures taken by the German government and accused it of breaking the German-Polish agreement on Upper Silesia of 1922. The League of Nations was called upon to induce the German government to end its anti-Semitic action in Upper Silesia and to urge Germany to make amends.

German reactions

After the petition became known in the Foreign Office , Minister Konstantin Freiherr von Neurath immediately called a ministerial meeting in the presence of Adolf Hitler in order to come to a coordinated approach of all ministries. From the Foreign Office, the Minister and Vicco von Bülow-Schwante , Head of the Special Unit Germany, took part. They feared that a “Jewish debate” in Geneva would damage Germany's reputation abroad. They prevailed with a moderate course and Interior Minister Wilhelm Frick promised not to implement the anti-Semitic legislation in Upper Silesia for the time being. At the same time, the Foreign Office tried in vain to find any material that would put Franz Bernheim in a bad light.

Negotiations in Geneva

The envoy in Geneva, Friedrich von Keller , was instructed to stress that Germany would respect international treaties. He put the blame for possible misconduct on the local authorities. However, German diplomacy did not succeed in preventing the question from being dealt with. The Council of the League of Nations discussed the case on May 22nd, 26th, 30th and June 6th.

On May 30, 1933, the Irish envoy Seán Lester stated in his report that German politics had actually violated the German-Polish agreement on Upper Silesia. Keller rejected this. The majority of the committee went well beyond the regionally limited petition in their decision. Not only the anti-Semitic actions in Upper Silesia were condemned, but all of Germany. On June 6th, the League of Nations made it a condition for Germany to respect minority rights in the German-Polish treaty and to pay compensation to those injured in Upper Silesia.

consequences

In fact, the anti-Jewish laws and ordinances no longer applied in (West) Upper Silesia. A committee of Jewish personalities was formed there to represent the interests of Jews vis-à-vis the League of Nations and Germany. The implementation of the League of Nations decision, however, dragged on. It was not until August 1934 that the Jewish committee succeeded in negotiating with the government to have the discrimination measures already implemented reversed. It was also possible to prevent the introduction of new anti-Semitic laws. Neither the law to restore the civil service nor the Nuremberg Laws were implemented in the region. Even the sale of the anti-Semitic newspaper Der Stürmer was prohibited.

This phase ended when the German-Polish agreement on Upper Silesia expired on June 15, 1937.

literature

  • Kurt Jacob Ball-Kaduri : The life of the Jews in Germany in 1933: a time report . Frankfurt a. M.: European Verl.-Anst. 1963, pp. 185-199. The Berlin lawyer Kurt Ball was the spokesman for the action committee.
  • Eckart Conze, Norbert Frei, Peter Hayes, Moshe Zimmermann: The Office and the Past. German diplomats in the Third Reich and the Federal Republic of Germany. Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-89667-430-2 , p. 49f.
  • Philipp Graf: The Bernheim petition 1933. Jewish policy in the interwar period. Göttingen 2008, ISBN 978-3-525-36988-3 .
  • Wolf Gruner: The persecution and murder of European Jews by National Socialist Germany 1933-1945 , Vol. 1: German Reich, 1933-1937. Munich 2008, p. 162f.
  • Jutta Cartarius: “Protection and persecution. The Upper Silesian Jews in the years 1933-1938. ”In: Thirst for Knowledge -: Research on the culture and history of Germans in Eastern Europe: two decades of Immanuel Kant scholarship. Munich 2007, pp. 126–128.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See “German-Polish Agreement on Upper Silesia” (Geneva Agreement; Upper Silesia Agreement, OSA) of May 15, 1922, in: Reichsgesetzblatt , 1922, Part II, p. 238ff.
  2. ↑ LEAGUE COUNCIL TO PROBBE NAZI ATTACK ON JEWS , The Deseret News, May 20, 1933, p. 1.
  3. ↑ Probe of German-Jewish Question , Frederick K. Abott, The Deseret News, May 30, 1933, p. 1.
  4. ^ Hitler Envoy Promises To Restore Rights To Jews In Upper Silesia , The Deseret News, June 6, 1933, p. 1.