The American Jewish Congress today charged the Austrian Government with seeking to increase the retirement income of former Nazis while claiming it lacked funds to improve pension benefits for Jewish victims of Nazi persecution.
Dr. Joachim Prinz, chairman of the commission on international affairs of the Congress, made public a letter he had sent to Austrian Ambassador Lemberger, accusing Vienna of having “chosen to aid those who collaborated in the crime of the Nazis at the expense of those who suffered at the hands of the Nazis.” Dr. Prinz said the Austrian proposal for enlarged aid to ex-Nazis was contained in a bill which is to be submitted to the Austrian Parliament by the government of Chancellor Joseph Klaus.
“The proposed legislation, described as a measure to grant additional payments to federal civil servants, will have the effect of greatly expanding retirement benefits for persons who were denied reinstatement into the Austrian civil service because of their Nazi affiliations,” Dr. Prinz said. “These former civil servants and their heirs will be awarded substantial increases in benefits. At the same time, we are told by the Austrian Government that benefits and pensions cannot be increased for Jewish victims of Nazism because of the unavailability of funds.”
Dr. Prinz recalled that, last October. Austrian Foreign Minister Lujo Toncic-Sorenj met in New York with representatives of the American Council for Equal Compensation for Nazi Victims from Austria. At that meeting, Dr. Prinz said, Mr. Toncic-Sorenj rejected requests for additional restitution payments on the ground that — among other reasons — Austria was a small and poor country without the means to indemnify Jewish victims of Nazism as Germany had done.
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.
