The exact location of the reparations negotiations between the West German Government and Jewish and Israeli representatives will be disclosed only to persons directly connected with the conference, it was learned, here today on good authority. It was stated that the public and the press would be barred from the talks, but that communiques, approved by the parties concerned, would be issued. The opening of the negotiations, scheduled for next Monday, has been postponed for several days.
The London Council of the World Jewish Congress today discussed the question of Jewish claims against Germany at its first conference here. A.L. Easterman, one of the leaders of the W.J.C., reported at the parley that the bill which the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany will present the Germans will consist of three main parts:
1. A demand to improve and extend the existing restitution legislation in Germany, particularly its transformation into federal legislation.
2. Repayment to legitimate heirs, or to their authorized representatives, of compulsory taxes imposed upon Jews under the Nazi regime, such as the special Jewish flight tax estimated at 2,000,000,000 German marks and the collective penalty of some 1,000,000,000 marks imposed upon German Jewry as “revenge” for the assassination of the German diplomat, von Rath, in Paris by the Polish Jew Hershl Grynszpan.
3. Compensation for property confiscated and looted en-masse from Jewish communities in Nazi-occupied countries, most of which was brought to Germany and sold there. Mr. Easterman revealed that German sources estimate that the contents of almost 70,000 Jewish houses in Austria, Holland and France alone were physically removed to Germany and sold there.
Where the owners or heirs to claims are no longer alive, the Conference would demand compensation to be paid to the Jewish Successor Organization which is composed of the Joint Distribution Committee and the Jewish Agency, Mr. Easterman said. He emphasized that there can be no question of reparations or compensation for the murder of 6,000,000 Jews by the Nazis. The forthcoming negotiations with Germany, he said, would be for the restitution of Jewish assets stolen, confiscated or expropriated by the Nazis and for refund of the minimum cost of the resettlement in Israel of Nazi victims.
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.
