A newly-founded Jewish bank, with an initial capitalization of 500,000 Deutschemarks, will be opened here early next month, it was announced here today.
The bank will administer funds received from restitution claims on behalf of Jews presently living abroad or for the heirs of the original owners, advise claimants in restitution matters, and devote particular attention to the problem of blocked accounts and the possibilities of their transfer abroad. The bank’s board includes Adolph Schoyer, Dr. Kurt Werthauer, Hainz Galinski and other communal leaders.
Earlier, it was reported from Weisbadan that Werner Hilpert, Finance Minister of Hesse, banned the Jewish Bank for Industry and Commerce, the only Jewish-owned bank in Western Germany, from continuing its activities. An official statement said the ban had been imposed after an inquiry into the bank’s activities by a state-appointed committee last month.
Herr Hilpert ordered the investigation, according to German press reports, after the bank was alleged to have paid about $1,050,000 of restitution claims in cash to an unnamed alien whose whereabouts were unknown. The bank’s board of managers declared these allegations were “completely unfounded.”
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.
