English Translation

9/ 4 Committee" in London the official notice that in view of the territorial changes of the Balkan wars the English government intends to protect religious freedom and other rights of minorities demanded by the Jews. During the World War, about thirty Jewish congresses and assemblies met with similar demands in the different countries of Europe, such as in South Africa in 1916 and in Canada in 1917. In the United States, too, already in 191s, the idea of a Jewish congress was represented by Louis Dembitz Brandeis, patron Masaryks. Following the signing of the ceasefire, an American Jewish Congress met in Philadelphia. "Since he represented three million Jews, he had the character of a grandiose manifestation of Jewish harmony and solidarity. The delegation he chose to send to the Peace Conference, thanks to its special relations with the American delegation and President Wilson himself, was destined to play a very important role in the work of the committees of Jewish delegations at the Peace conference (Feinberg page 34). The first meeting of the "Prince Council" of the victorious powers took place in Paris on 1 January 1919 and, with the official opening of the peace conference from all parts of the world, the delegates gathered in Paris, and additional Jewish delegations also arrived from different countries. On February 25, 1919, the "Zionist Conference" was held in London (obviously to map out the common Jewish march route at the Peace Conference), on the initiative of which the Jewish delegations of the individual countries agreed and on 25 February 1919. In March 1919, in Paris, a joint representation was established under the name "Committee of Jewish Delegations at the Peace Conference", which included delegates from the Jewish community of the United States, Italy, Palestine, Eastern and Southeast Europe, including Czechoslovakia, as well as representatives of the Zionist World Organizations. Through this committee, the world Jewry succeeded first and foremost in asserting its demands for the peace conference with great success. Thus, during the Paris negotiations, the Jews became the initiators of minority rights protection, which was initially only to be initiated in its own right and only grew out of the conference on general minority laws for all eligible countries and ethnic groups. Aware of Jewish success, Feinberg wrote the proud sentence: "Based on the trust of twelve million Jews, the Committee of Jewish Delegations came before the Peace Conference and called for Jewish minorities not only to grant religious freedom and equality, but also national-cultural rights, which required them to live in accordance with their human and ethnic qualities, as well as the recognition of the same