The Bernheim petition was a 1933 petition by a Jewish resident of Gleiwitz - German Upper Silesia, Franz Bernheim, to the

League of Nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...

in protest at Nazi anti-Jewish legislation. The petition was made under the provisions of the 1922 German–Polish Accord on East Silesia which contained provisions for the protection of minority rights and set up a ''mixed German-Polish Commission for Upper Silesia'', headed by

Felix Calonder Felix Louis Calonder (7 December 1863 – 14 June 1952) was a Swiss politician, member of the Swiss Federal Council from 1913 to 1920, and President of the Confederation in 1918. He was affiliated to the Free Democratic Party. During his tenure o ...

, for a period of 15 years ending in 1937. Bernheim had been dismissed from his job as a manager at Gleiwitz Deutsches Familien-Kaufhaus ( DeFaKa) in April 1933 due to anti-Jewish legislation. The petition addressed not only Bernheim's dismissal but also racial discrimination in Upper Silesia as a whole, quoting provisions for firing "non-Aryan" public employees, notaries, lawyers, medical professionals, and teachers. The petition was accepted by the league, and led not only to financial compensation for Bernheim himself, but to the vacation of most racial provisions of Nazi laws in Upper Silesia. However, when article 147 of the accord on East Silesia expired on 15 July 1937, racial provisions in German laws were applied in Upper Silesia as well.Erpelding, Michel. Upper Silesian Mixed Commission. Max Planck Institute Luxembourg, 2017.
/ref>Bernheim Petition

Yad Vashem Yad Vashem ( he, יָד וַשֵׁם; literally, "a memorial and a name") is Israel's official memorial to the victims of the Holocaust. It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; honoring Jews who fought against th ...

References

1933 documents Province of Upper Silesia History of Silesia 1933 in law 1933 in Germany Antisemitism in Germany Holocaust racial laws Jewish German history Disabilities (Jewish) in Europe Law of Nazi Germany {{Germany-hist-stub