LEAGUE of NATIONS. Ommunicated to C. 233. 1950. I. He Council
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LEAGUE OF NATIONS. ommunicated to C. 233. 1950. I. he Council, Geneva, April 30, 1530, PROTECTION* OF MINORITIES IN UPPER SILESIA Petition from the ,rDeutsorer Vo llcsbund M dated November 14 1929 ? under Article 147 o the Convention of i'-ia v .5th, 19 !.\5 rrh relatin; to Upper S ilesia, co io r» o une:i t the personal situation of Otto Ochmann. "pV TI-T^T QTPnT)~7ini IL V r- I- TTT'T) a t -!-> V-^ j : _ -Li.. —; O j j W-l . .. j _L .. _ “ "O’ r‘ i i i e In accordance with the Council Resolution of September 8 th , 1928, the Secretary-General communicated this petition on December 27th, 1929, to the Polish Delegation accredited to the League for the observations of the Polish Government. Thesq observations were sent in to the Secretary- general in a letter from the Polish Delegation dated 1-arch 1st, 1930, with one annex. The Secretary-General has the honour to circulate i0r the consideration of the Council the petition, together r'lth the Polish Government’s observations. The passages reproducing the confidential documents to which the Polish '-legation s xetter refers, as well as those containing -ferencos -thereto, have been suppressed from the text of __ o __ I . P F T I I 1 0 LI. Katowice, "De-ut s cher Volks bund für PoInisch Schlesien". Movember 14th, 19 29. TO TEE COUlCCIL 0? TF3 LEAGUE OF MATIOMS. GFIM5VA. (Translation). On behalf of and acting as proxy for I,. Otto Ochmann of Lublinieo, former legal representative, we have t"-s honour, in conformity with Article 147 of the Geneva Convention, to submit the following petition: Power of attorney is attached (Annex l). -he President of the Katowice District Court, by an Order (1. Gen. I I I . 44) of October 23rd, 1222, gave the petitioner permission to plead before the Lublin is c Ere is Court in virtue of 3 1 of the General Decree of the Mini U : of Justice, of September 25th, 186 9 (Preuss. Min. 31. p. 272), -:lon 13 still in force in Polish Upper Silesia. Permission ,as withdrawn, however, by an Order of the President of the -v.-.towioe D istrict Court, dated December 2nd, 19 27 (Annex 2), on the grounds that according to a report of the Lubliniec Stsrosty M. Ochmann entertained hostile feelings towards the j-is.. community and tne Polish S ta te . The appeal against th is °raer> whlo- -as submitted in accordance with g 5 Loc. cit. 'S,nex 3) on December 19th, 1927, was rejected bv a Decree of the r-=f3icLsnt of the Katowice Court of Appeal, dated Acril 5th, 1c r>Q I j '■tinnex 4). -3- aled to the Minister of Justion on July £ctl , 1929 (Annex 5) and receivod a reply from the President of the Katowice Court of Appeal, dateà September lut ' , If 2? (Annex 5). The p etitio n er had beer, employed since 1904 u n til the transfer of sovereignty as head clerk to two advocate - notaries of lubliniec. After the transfer of sovereignty, as there was not a single advocate at the seat of the lubliniec Ereis Court, it was obviously necessary to allow him to act as counsel. He always carried out conscientiously any business entrusted to him in this capacity. His integrity won him the confidence not only of the civil population but also of the authorities. Up to 19 25, for example, the Lubliniec Starosty entrusted him with the defence of its legal interests before the Courts. Ho criticism in regard to his integrity or professional capacity was ever formulated in official circles. The withdrawal of this permission is based on the following grounds: The "Gazeta Robotnicza”, on August 20th, 1927 (Ho. 139) published an a rtic le , tran sla tio n of which is as follows : 'From our Lubliniec correspondent : fTWe cannot refrain from calling attention to a certain anomaly representing a legacy from the Prussian Regime. Since t e tran sfer of S ilesia to the Polish authorities the functions of counsel at the Lubliniec Ereis Court have been exercised by a German of the name of Ochmann. This gentleman, who used to be clerk to German, advocate, cannot po s si b 1 -, possess the qualifications Squired of1 a professional jurist. Would such a thing be possible in Silesia on the other side of the frontier? Let Us famine this gentleman’s affairs somewhat more closely. _Æ_ t vG T 07711 Council wss s t i l l in the hands of Ce ni :ioners and ochmann was one of its members, the fact of there being: a Polish ioritv made it impossible for him to exercise any influence on t'-e norma1 course of municipal and social affairs. Perhaps this vhv he assumed the hypocritical mask of a loyal citizen of the ^•oublie, which must have been a ll the easier for Mm as he was citrroortsd and still is supported not only by the Municipality v.t also by his derotod Christian Democrat friends, who r e c en L1 p r] -] p . >r -h}-; f ; v r"i + h *r Vj tm £ P. T>rTr n - , n O R " oncludsd a life V» U._ VX vJ. O ' V 1 J u \/ y 1 < -L V tl u .-.1 <-• J. -1 -tv on the Tom Council, led by LI. Ochmann him self, The la tte r can afford to adopt an insolent a ttitu d e , as his Christian Democrat friends and allies even include Government o ffic ia ls , M» Ochmann, who pleads as counsel before the Polish Court hare, is the leader of the German party in the Lubliniec Town Council and is having his children edu- oeted at German schools in breslau, where he has also acquired house property and has invested the capital amassed by hire in olish territor;^. It has long been his intention to settle in reslau, but he feels that the has not yet made enough in Poland nd ioes not propose to disappear until he has got the necessary aoital out of the fo ies, it is even said in well-informed circles that M, Ochmann went secretly to the German Consulate and pted for Germany in order that he might remain a national of that jos-fearing and most moral country. "One other very ir.no r tant circumstance also calls for mentioi bchnann is in daily contact with members of the rural population of tu ^i . r- whole hrei: whom come to consult him, so that h; in a Posit ion to exercise a most sinister influence, the U : - O m «-4.V - i t O O O' 0 TTrVwhich - are quite incalculable - acting always on behalf of the •olksbund”, which would not loss LI. Ochmann on any consideration. | "l6se and other similar anomalies in our public life are undoubtedly outcome of the agitation secretly carried on during the communal This art inle is the s tarting point of the measures taken bV authorities. Permission to s withdrawn on December 2nd, 1627 M Anr-ex g). ~ 5 - At this point the Polish Press took up the matter again rj on April 12th, 1928, the "Pclska Zachcdnia” (ïïo.101) published n article, extracts of which are given be low (translation): Tj Our ad m in i st r at i on must be ireed from German ini lue nces. "In our campaign against German nationalism in the Voievodship of S ilesia we must p ersist in our energetic demands that the administration shall be rid of the vestiges of the German regime which arc s t i l l to be found in i t. There are numbers of these agents of the "Vo Iks bund” in various oilice s. "Other anomalies still v xi s t . At Lubliniec, for example, a certain II. Ochmann, the leader of the Gorman party in the Town Council, who has house property in breslau and is having his children educated the re, still pie ads as counsel (hedge lawyer) - without possessing the proper qualifications - before the Lubliniec Zrcis Court. Various efforts and representations have been made to remove th is German from the post which he now occupies - but so far in vain. One cannot avoid the impression that the gentleman in question enjoys the protection of influential quarters. Apart from the fact that he does not possess the necessary juristic qualifications, it is quite incomprehensible that he should be kept on in this post, seeing that we already have a number of competent Polish ju ris ts with a university education» Would such a thing be possible in German Silesia? The Polish community demands categorically that the authorities should remove II. Ochmann from this post. It is hardly accessary to stress the demoralising influence which such an individual may exercise over the many rural members of the population who come to consult him» "M. Ochmann1 s removal from this office is imperative for the safeguarding of Polish national interests in this town and the whole Krcis. Enough of our easy-going to 1er an ce 117 Then followed the fin al decision of the President of the Court of Appeal, dated A pril 6 th , 1929 ( Annex 4). Permission to plead before the Court as legal representa tive of litig a n ts must be granted in accordance with the terms of §1 °f the above-mentioned Decree of the M inister of Justice of 3-P tomber 25 th , 1399, whenever this appears necessary. Under §5, para. 1 of the said Decree, however, permission may be withdrawn at 'iXÿ time, b u t, os appears from §5, para» 8 in conjunction with §4, JZ--v if there is reason to doubt the capacity and integrity of the counsel.