Assurances of support for measures which would restore to the surviving Jews of Austria properties looted during the Nazi period, and which would provide a measure of relief until such restitution can be affected, were recently given by leading Austrian cabinet members and political leaders to Maz Isenbergh, counsel to the European office of the American Jewish Committee, it was announced this week-end by Federal Judge Phillip Forman of Trenton, N.J., chairman of the A.J.C. foreign affairs committee. In a recent visit to Austria, Isenbergh discussed with Austrian officials the plight of the 10,000-odd survivors of the pre-war Austrian Jewish population of 220,000.
The Austrian officials gave assurances of aid in adjusting the administration of existing Austrian laws on restitution of identifiable property to former owners or their heirs and on compensation for employment contracts and pensions breached during the Nazi period. They also indicated sympathy for a proposed loan of 25,000,000 schillings by the Austrian Government to the Jewish community for purposes of relief and rehabilitation. The loan would be charged against future restitution of ###less and unclaimed property, as yet untouched by any Austrian legislation. In a previous consideration of the loan, it was rejected by the Austrian Cabinet in 1948.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
