JUDAICA - Wisdom In Torah

BERNHEIM, LOUIS (1861–1931), Belgian army officer. Born
in Saint-Josse-ten-Noode, Bernheim was commissioned in the
Grenadiers and was transferred to the general staff in 1888.
Later he returned to the Grenadiers and on the outbreak of
World War I commanded the 7th Infantry Regiment at Antwerp.
At the battle of the Marne, Bernheim commanded a Belgian
brigade in the First Division and later defended Antwerp
against German attacks. He subsequently took command of
the First Division. He was seriously wounded in September
1915 but was promoted to lieutenant general in the following
year and in 1918 commanded three Belgian divisions in
Flanders in the final advance on the German lines. Bernheim
received numerous awards and honors and was given a state
funeral. After his death a statue was erected in his honor in
a Brussels square.
Bibliography: New York Times (Feb. 14, 20, 21, 22, 1931).
BERNHEIMER, CARLO (1877–?), Italian scholar. Born in
Leghorn, Bernheimer taught Sanskrit at the University of Bologna
from 1906 to 1938, when he was dismissed under the
Fascist racial laws. Bernheimer devoted himself especially to
the study of Hebrew paleography, and bibliography. In his
Paleografia ebraica (1924) he set himself the task “of illustrating…
everything that concerns Hebrew manuscripts.” He also
published catalogs of the Hebrew and cognate manuscripts
in the talmud torah of Leghorn (1915), in French, the Ambrosian
Library of Milan (1933), and the Biblioteca Estense
of Modena (1960).
[Alfredo Mordechai Rabello]
BERNHEIMER, CHARLES SELIGMAN (1868–1960), U.S.
social worker. Bernheimer, who was born in Philadelphia, Pa.,
served with Jewish welfare and educational organizations during
six decades, holding such posts as business secretary of the
*Jewish Publication Society of America (1890–1906), executive
director of the Hebrew Educational Society of Brooklyn
(1910–19), and director of community studies for the *National
Jewish Welfare Board (1921–40). He also edited the information
bulletin of the Jewish Welfare Board, The Jewish Center,
for many years. As assistant head worker of the University
Settlement in New York City (1906–10), Bernheimer played
a prominent role in support of the workers in the Shirtwaist
Strike of 1909 that helped establish modern trade unionism
in the garment trades. Bernheimer edited the pioneer study
The Russian Jew in the United States (1905), in which he wrote
the chapters on Philadelphia. He was coauthor of the book
Boys’ Clubs (1914) and contributed to many periodicals. His
memoirs Half a Century in Community Service were published
in 1948.
[Irwin Yellowitz]
BERNHEIM PETITION, petition against Nazi anti-Jewish
legislation, signed by Franz Bernheim on the initiative
of Emil *Margulies and submitted to the League of Nations
bernheim petition
on May 17, 1933, by representatives of the *Comité des Délégations
Juives (Leo *Motzkin, Emil Margulies, and Nathan
Feinberg). At the same time they presented to the League a
similar petition signed by the Comité, the American Jewish
Congress, and other Jewish institutions. Since there was a
special procedure regarding petitions addressed by inhabitants
of German Upper Silesia, Bernheim’s petition alone was
immediately considered by the League. When the Nazis came
to power, Bernheim, a warehouse employee in Upper Silesia,
was dismissed from work as a result of racial discrimination,
and took up temporary residence in Prague. In his petition
he complained that the anti-Jewish legislation of the Third
Reich was also being applied to Upper Silesia, in violation
of the German-Polish Convention of May 15, 1922 (Geneva
Convention), which guaranteed all minorities in Upper Silesia
equal civil and political rights. The petition requested the
League to state that all the anti-Jewish measures, if and when
applied in Upper Silesia, infringed upon the Geneva Convention
and were therefore null and void, and that the rights of
Upper Silesian Jews be reinstated and that they receive compensation
for damages. Bernheim’s petition was placed on the
agenda of the 73rd session of the League Council on May 22,
1933. The German representative, von Keller, lodged an objection
denying Bernheim’s right to submit the complaint, a plea
that was rejected by an ad hoc committee of jurists. Four days
later von Keller declared in the name of his government that
internal German legislation did not in any way affect the General
Convention and that if its provisions had been violated,
this could only have been due to errors and misconstructions
on the part of subordinate officials. The purpose of this public
apology was to prevent a general debate on the petition, but
these tactics failed, and in two public sessions (May 30 and
June 6) the persecution of Jews in Germany was fully discussed.
Many of the speakers severely censured Germany for
the treatment of its Jews and demanded that they be accorded
minimum human rights. In a unanimous decision, Germany
and Italy abstaining, the Council adopted a resolution noting
the German government’s declaration and requesting it to furnish
the Council with information on further developments.
On September 30, 1933, the German government submitted a
letter in which it claimed to have fulfilled its obligations, and
that the rights of the Jews of Upper Silesia had been restored.
The main objective of the Comité des Délégations Juives in
bringing the petitions before the League was to focus world
attention on the anti-Jewish legislation of Nazi Germany and
the persecution of its Jews, and to have it condemned. The
discussions in the League Council, and especially the declaration
of the German government, helped the Jews of Upper
Silesia in their struggle for their rights before such local bodies
as the Mixed Commission established under the Geneva
Convention. Until the expiration of the Convention on July
15, 1937, the Jews of Upper Silesia continued to enjoy equality
of rights, and even sheḥitah, forbidden in the Third Reich,
was permitted them.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA JUDAICA, Second Edition, Volume 3 475