Protection of Minorities in Poland
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! Communicated to the Council.] Official No. : C. 1 07. 1934. 1. Geneva, March '26th, 1934. LEAGUE OF NATIONS PROTECTION OF MINORITIES IN POLAND PETITIONS FROM M. GRAEBE CONCERNING THE GRANTING AND WITHDRAWAL OF LICENCES FOR THE SALE OF ALCOHOLIC LIQUORS Note by the Secretary- General : By document C.86.1934.I, the Secretary-General circulated to the Council a note which he had received from the representatives of Portugal, Italy and the United Kingdom with regard to the insertion in the agenda of the next ordinary session of the Council of the question dealt with in the petitions from M. Graebe contained in documents C.483.1930.1. C.499.1931.1, C.13 and C.459.1932.I. The Secretary-General now has the honour to circulate to the Council the documentation concerning this question. S'd- N- 350 'F.) 225 (A.) 3/34. Imprimerie Granchamp, Annemasse. C.86.1934.I. NOTE FROM THE REPRESENTATIVES OF PORTUGAL, ITALY AND THE UNITED KINGDOM. The representatives of Portugal. Italy and the United Kingdom on the Council of the League of Nations have examined, in pursuance of the Council resolution of October 25th. 1920, documents C.483.1930.I, C.499.1931.I, C.13 and C.459.1932.1, containing petitions from M. Graebe regarding the granting and withdrawal of licences for the sale of alcoholic liquors, together with the Polish Government’s observations in regard thereto. During their last meeting, held on January 16th, 1934, the above-mentioned representatives decided to draw' the Council’s attention, in accordance with Article 12. paragraph 2, of the Polish Minorities Treaty, to the question dealt with in the above- mentioned documentation. They accordingly request the Secretary-General to take the necessary steps to have this question placed on the agenda of the Council’s next ordinary session and to inform the Polish Government of their decision. Geneva, January 16th, 1934. ( Signed) H. V i a n n a . T. P e r a s s i . W. M a l k i n . C.483.1930.1. II. PETITION FROM M. GRAEBE, DATED JULY 2 8 t h , 1930, AND THE POLISH GOVERNMENT’S OBSERVATIONS THEREON. [Translation.] 1. P e t i t i o n . To the Secretary-General of the League of Nations. For years past, the German minority of Poznan and Pomerania has been suffering increasing injury from the fact that the authorities apply the laws concerning the granting and withdrawal of licences for the retail sale of intoxicating liquors in a manner prejudicial to members of the minority. Whereas, despite the tendency of the laws to restrict the number of establishments for the retail sale of liquor, the total number of such establishments has increased in both voivodships, not only is the grant of new licences generally refused in the case of German applicants, but licences actually in the possession of Germans are withdrawn, irrespective of the fact that these are, in the majority of cases, licences which have been in existence for some decades and which have, for years and tens of years, been in the hands of the holders affected by this measure. The German Deputies have endeavoured for years by personal negotiations with the competent Ministry of Finance and by representations to the competent Minister for Finance, to obtain a change in this practice and a revision of all the decisions infringing the minority’s rights to equality before the law, equal treatment and equal legal protection. All these efforts having proved vain, the German Parliamentary Club has just submitted a further memorandum to the Minister for Finance. The memorandum is dated April 16th, 1930. It was originally to have been handed over by the Deputy Tatulinski, a member of the German Club. As he wras unable to obtain an interview before the Minister or Vice-Minister went away on a holiday, the memorandum was sent by post on July 3rd, 1930. I have the honour, Sir, to communicate to you a copy of the operative part of this memorandum, which contains a summary of the facts, and would ask you to be good enough to take action on th e memorandum and on my letter, in accordance with the procedure laid down by the Council of the League of Nations for petitions. I beg the Council of the League to be so good as to support our efforts with a view to the re-establishment of equality. According to the result of our direct representations to the Minister for Finance, I reserve the right to submit further petitions to you. (Signed) G r a e b e , Deputy. * * * [Translation furnished by the Petitioner.] MEMORANDUM CONCERNING NOTICES OF WITHDRAWAL AND CANCELLATION OF EXCISE LICENCES. To the Minister of Finance, Warsaw. Referring to the numerous negotiations carried on by certain members of our party with the representative of the Ministry of Finance responsible for excise licences, we beg to draw Your Excellency’s attention to the fact that, since the year 1921, the reduction in the number — 3 — 0f licensed premises in Pomerelia and Posen has attained dimensions which constitute an unbearable state of affairs for the german inhabitants of the former Prussian territory. The scheme of the hotels and licensed premises in the former Prussian territory includes : (а) Hotels which also provide solid refreshment and intoxicating liquors ; (б ) Restaurants providing solid refreshment and intoxicating liquors ; (c) Licensed premises exclusively for the sale of intoxicating liquors ; (d) Groceries with stabling accommodation, licensed to retail intoxicating liquors for consumption on the premises and in bottles. While the categories (a) to (c) may be looked upon as special undertakings for the serving of liquor to be consumed on the premises, the category [d) denotes a kind of business which, though it cannot actually be designated as a concern for the purpose of serving intoxicating liquors, in most cases maintains its existence from its licence to sell and serve alcoholic beverages. These concerns are mostly to be found in small market towns and the smaller towns up to 30,000 inhabitants, and cater for the convenience of the rural population by enabling the latter, not only to drive up to the premises and accommodate their vehicles thereon, but also to consume their own food, while ordering an accompanying drink. If these concerns are deprived of their excise licence, they lose at least half their customers, and, as most of the owners of this kind of business own land, half their land as well. The case of the undertakings designated in the categories (a) to (c) is even worse, if their licence is entirely cancelled, as such cancellation mostly means the impossibility of further existence. It should be remembered that visitors to hotels in the former Prussian territory expect to be provided with food and drink in the hotel itself (unlike Congressional Poland and Galicia, where the hotel merely provides lodging) ; hotel visitors avoid such houses as do not fulfil their expectations in this respect. From the factual material at our disposal we have — in the appended Annexes 1 to 5 — collected and annotated a few especially flagrant cases of the withdrawal of excise licences from racial German citizens and of the granting of new licenses to racial Poles. The annexes are arranged as follows : Annex 1contains cases of the deprivation of excise licences for trading and retailing intoxicating liquors with regard to premises as designated sub (a) of this memorandum (supra) ; Annex 2 cases of deprivation of excise licences for trading and retailing intoxicating liquors with regard to premises as sub {b) of this memorandum ; Annex 3 cases of deprivation of excise licences for trading and retailing intoxicating liquors with regard to premises as sub (c) of this memorandum ; Annex 4 cases of deprivation of excise licences for trading and retailing intoxicating liquors with regard to premises as sub (d) of this memorandum. Annex 5contains cases which have come to our knowledge of newly granted excise licences, where the grounds for the grant are lacking •— viz., where the holder of the licence is neither a war invalid nor a person with a claim to a pension. The grant in these cases constitutes an injustice, having regard to the hundreds of cases of cancellation of excise licences affecting racial German citizens in such a way that their existence, if not entirely destroyed, has been so reduced that it is impossible for them to support their families, educate their children or hand over to adult children a business capable of existence. Your Excellency ! It can neither be the will of the Legislature, nor can it further the national economy or serve to augment the Treasury of the State (Act dated July 31st, 1924, Letter A, Point 9) if a whole class of honest, industrious citizens is deprived of the means of existence or so restricted as to be reduced within measurable time to the ranks of the proletariat, because the use of long-held licences is taken from them. The facts prove that : (1) The excise licence is granted when ownership passes from German to Polish hands ; (2) It is impossible for racial German citizens to obtain new excise licences even when they are invalided ; (3) Up to the most recent times, premises for the sale and consumption of intoxicating liquor are being newly established by national Polish citizens and that licences are granted for them even when it is a question of undertakings the need of whose existence may justifiably be doubted under the Act of April 23rd, 1920 ; — 4 — (4) Licences are withdrawn from racial German citizens even when they are war invalids or designated as invalids by the District Medical Officer in consequence of bodily ailments ; (5) No licence is granted to racial German citizens even when a favourable expert opinion has been given by the administrative authorities of first instance and it is not a question of issuing a new licence, but merely of transferring the old licence, although in the same place and its immediate neighbourhood such transferences are made when it is a question of national Polish citizens.