An order seizing all property of Jewish families who have not returned to the Soviet-held part of Germany was issued by the Communist authorities there, it was reported here today. The report says that Jewish property worth several hundred million dollars will now formally pass into the hands of the East German Communist administration.
The German press today features news of the escape from East Germany to West Berlin of Dr. Leo Zuckerman, former assistant to East German President Wilhelm Pieck. Dr. Zuckerman was branded a “Zionist spy” by the East German Communist Party in a public statement last Sunday, Dr. Zuckerman, a Jew, fled to West Berlin together with his wife and his two children.
Until recently, Dr. Zuckerman was chief of the President’s Chancellery, which made him in effect Assistant President. The Communist Party statement last Sunday said that he had tried to force Soviet-zone Jews to band together in a Jewish community to receive aid from the Joint Distribution Committee, which the Communist statement said was “an American espionage agency.”
(In New York, the headquarters of the J.D.C. denied any knowledge of Dr. Zuckerman. It was emphasized that no official of the organization in this country or Europe ever met him.)
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.
