LEAGUE 0? . NATI ONS C.508.M.227.1934.VII. Communicated to the Council and to the Geneva, November 22nd, 1934 Members of the League. SAAR TERRITORY Letter from the President of the Governing Commission of the Saar Territory dated November 13th, 1934, transmitting a petition with annexes dated October 29th, 1934, from the Saar Socialist Party (Saarlëndische Sozialistiche Fartei). Memorandum containing the observations of the Plebiscite Commission on the subject ot this petition, dated November 7th, 1934. GOVERNING COMMISSION OF THE SAAR TERRITORY. Saarbruck, November 13th, 1934 Translation. To the Secretary-General nf the League of Nations. Sir, I have the honour to forward to you herewith a petition dated October 29th, 1934, from the Saar Socialist Party (SaarlSndische Sozialistiche partei) to the Council of the League of Nations. The Plebiscite Commission, to whom I referred the matter, expressed the desire to submit the observations re­ garding this petition that are contained in the Memorandum also attached hereto. I have the honour, etc., (Signed) G.G. KNOX. Tran si at i_on_ from German. Saarbruck, October 29th, 1 9 3 ^ PETITION OF THE SAAB SOCIALIST FABIT RELATING TO THE .......... ” SiiAR'"PLEBISCITE* OF1 1935. To the Council of the League of Nations, care of the Secretai^-General, Geneva. The Saar Socialist Party begs to draw your atten­ tion to the defects which have come to light in recent weeks ri the Provisional Lists for the plebiscite to be held on January 13th, 1935. We have done up to now what lay in our power to it.e k e possible the taking of a free, secret and trustworthy vote . To that end we placed ourselves in touch with the Plebiscite Commission set up by the Council of the League of Nations immediately after the publication of the voting regu­ lations , with a view to securing equal representation on the communal committees on the basis of one representative of the supporters of each of the three alternatives on which the vote is to be taken. Unfortunately our wishes in this connection were not met. The communal committees entrusted under Article 11 of the Regulations for the Plebiscite with the preparation of the provisional lists of persons entitled to vote, were mainly composed of adherents of the so-called Deutsche Front. We do not question the goodwill o-" the neutral Chairmen of these communal committees appointed by the Council of the League. But experience has taught us that the objections which we put before the Plebiscite Commission with regard to the exclusive influence of the Deutsche Front on the i-vdrgermeistereien1’ which appointed the members of the com­ mun al committees, were entirely justified. The adherents of the Deutsche Front were able to incorporate their carefully cooked index cards in the plebi­ scite lists, and at the same time to forestall any previous criticism of them on the part of their political opponents, viz., those who support the movement in favour of the status quo. Publications which have appeared up to the present from the Plebiscite Commission, as for example, their notice published in the Saarbrticker Abendblatt of Thursday, October 25th, 1934 (which we attach as an annex) show that the Saar officials who are accessible to propaganda in favour of restoration to Germany have themselves been able to deceive the Plebiscite Commission as to the real facts. The reason why matters have been allowed to come to this point is to be found in the belief of the League’s Commissioners that the Deutsche Front officiels could be treated as neutral and unprejudiced in the matter of their political views. - 3 - Some "Bürgermei stereien:' in the Saar have actually refused, as may be seen from the annexes, in defiance of the clear provisions of Article 75 of the Plebiscite Regulations, to produce records and papers required as proof for'claims to be lodged. Scrutiny of the provisional lists confirms the apprehensions we had put forward. Although the time-limit for submitting claims was all too snort, in view of the large number of persons in­ cluded in the provisional lists, and although in many localities no comparison of the official lists was possible until the latter had been copied and manifolded - although, in other words, it cannot possibly be asserted that there was any possibility of detailed and thorough checking of the lists on our part - some tens of thousands of wrong entries have nevertheless already been noted. A partisan of our movement ascertained 42 mistakes in the entries on a single day. The lists include dead persons, insane persons, persons deprived of control of their own affairs for alco­ holism, persons who left the Saar before June 26th, 1919, persons who entered the Saar after that date, and persons even who are quite unknown in the Saar, while there are a large number of double entries. In the attached annexes we give only some of the most typical cases. There is accordingly no assurance of the trust­ worthiness and sincerity of the plebiscite on the future of the Saar Territory, which the League is to guarantee. A vote on the basis of the present lists could not possibly express anything like the real opinion of the Saar people. We accordingly request the Council of the League of Nations, to cause a thorough check to be made of the plebiscite lists; to guarantee complete neutrality and equal representation in communal committees to be re­ elected; to fix.a further time-limit for claims, so as to avoid the mistakes which are still possible in the new lists. It is only along these lines that it will be possible to prevent the vote from becoming a farce, and to secure a free and trustworthy decision on the part of the people of the Saar. We trust that we shall have contributed towards this end by the submission of this petition with its annexes. We have, etc., (Signed) Wilhelm KRAMER. ^ annexes. - 4 - ANNEX I. FALSIFICATION _OF THE PROVISIONAL LISTS A. Double entries. Saarbruck 28372 Hübsohen Nick.4.3.73. Malst.-Burh., Railway guard, Saarbr. Wedellstr.6 . Neunkirchen 10985 Hübchen Nick (Rest as above) Saarbruck 28873 Hubschen born Schumacher Bart.21.3. 7 5 Saarbr. Wedellstr. 6. Neunkirchen 10986 Hübchen (as above) Saarbruck 28882 KUbschen Peter Nick. 19.2.03 Malst.- Burh Saarbr. Lebacherstr. 58. Neunkirchen 10987 Hübchen Peter (Rest as above) Saarbruck 713 Allgeier Cornelius. 16.9.07. Saarbr. Brewer, St. Ingbert, Wiesenstr. 97. St. Ingbert 152 Allgeior (as above) Saarbruck 1100 André born HÜlsowy Alma 27.2.94. St. Ingbert. Saarbr. Deutsch- herrnstr. 46. St. Ingbert 241 Andre born Hülsewig (Rost as above) Saarbruck 4655 Baisacker born. Noll, Cath. 1.11.97. St. Ingbert. Heiligenwald. St. Ingbert 894 Beisecker (as above) The list of such cases of double entries might be extended at will. They relate to every part of the Territory and their number runs into thousands. B . Deceased persons included in the lists. Brebach 14447 Bratlander Johann. 17.10.80 Burdenbach. Breleach 11210 Bratlander (as above) / Died at Güdingen, Saargemunder- str. 121 E. Sulzbach 14273 Weiss Anna, born Lorig. 31.1.05, Sulzbach. Died according to Register cf Deaths, p. 22, No. 218'. Güdingen 9447 Mühlbach Bernhard. 30.6.63. Trier (Treves) Died at Güdingen, Riesenstr. 63. Dudweiler 3520 Frey born Kranz, Maria, 28.3.85. Dudweiler. Dead. - 5 - Dudweiler 214 Anhaus Friedrich. 22.1.94. Dudweiler Dead. Dudweiler 927 Berleerich horn Chlosset, Regina. 0.12.99. Dead. C Insane persons included _in _the 1 is ts . Dudwei1er 7314 Klos Karl. 16,9.97 Dudweiler, Merzig, St. Ingbertstr.116. Dudweiler 10043 Müller Frieda. 8.10.08. Dudweiler, Scheiderstr. 258. Fraulautern Hessedenz Peter. 28.12.01. Fraulautern. Kessedenz is in Merzig Asylum Five other persons from Frau­ lautern in the same Asylum are entered in the voting lis ts. Persons included in _the _1 .is/ts _who were not rosi dent' In "the Saar ~Terri tory 'on "the da to which qualified for, a vote, or have nôvir been"in the Saar Territory. Saarlouis Fürstenwerth Oscar. The Police Register of Notifications says that he moved tn Bochum without giving notice. The indcx-card hears the mark of Administrative Chief Inspector Kramer. Fürstenwerth returned in 1920 from a v/ar prisoners’ camp. Saarlouis Hector horn Umhofen, ICaroline, Saarlouis 8 , 18.3.1895. Freudenstadt. Never was in the Saar Territory. Wallerfangen Becker Jakob. 11.10.90 Gilzem, Bous, Kaiserstr. 10. Becker is unknown in Wallorfangen. - 6 - ANNEX 2 . PARTIAL ATTITUDE OF "DEUTSCHE FRONT” OFFICIALS (1) The Burgomaster of Berns-Bistern refused to issue official records of the death of persons included in the voting lists. (2) The Office for Police Notifications refused all in­ formation with regard to the case of Karoline Hector men­ tioned in Annex 1. (3) The issue of official documents or records relating to the case of.Jakob Becker of Gilzem, mentioned in Annex 1, was refused by Burgomaster Jacob of Wallerfangen on October ICth, 1634. (4) The Frings case. Alois Frings of Saarbruck 3, Mainzerstr. 13, an inhabitant of the Saar, was asked by a neighbour, a partisan 0f the status quo, living in the same house, to fill in an official form with a view to his registration in the voting lists. Frings unhesitatingly did as he was asked, and an application was aceor'dingly submitted by the neighbour living in the house to his organisation for forwarding to the proper quarter. A week later Frings1 mother-in-law, the Widow Jochum, who has an inn at Sulzbach, was told to use her in­ fluence with her daughter and her son-in-law to induce them to make a public declaration that they had nothing to do with the ’’Separatists", failing which she was threatened with a boycott of her inn.