Jewish communities in West Germany have protested to the Wuerttemberg-Baden provincial government against a decision to delay repayment of discriminatory taxes levied on the Jews by the Nazis, it was reported here today.
The provincial finance department recently announced that it would not repay an emigration tax imposed on Jews permitted to flee the country by the Nazis until the Federal Government put into effect the “Equalization of Burden Bill.” Nor would it make good a property tax levied by Hermann Goering in 1938 following the assassination of a Nazi diplomat in Paris by Hershe Grynszpan, a Jewish youth provincial authorities said.
The “Equalization of Burden Bill” is a measure which would tax all persons in Germany, including those entitled to restitution payments, who had not suffered major losses in the war or as a result of the postwar currency conversion. The taxes would be used to assist persons who suffered heavy losses under these circumstances.
Dr. Philip Auerbach, Bavarian Commissioner for Persecutees, today spoke to the West German Parliament in Bonn as a representative of persecutees living in Germany. He criticized the federal legislature for its failure to adopt a restitution measure for all of West Germany.
Dr. Auerbach charged that the government was continuing to pay pensions to former Nazi officials and army officers while former victims of the Nazis were being forced out of public office. He requested priority treatment for persecutees and added that as long as Nazi officials were involved in the government Jews would not participate in it.
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.
