Podell to Study Possible Congressional Action to Prevent Closing Documentation Center

Rep. Bertram L. Podell, Democrat of Brooklyn, has promised to study the possibility of Congressional action to help prevent the closing of Simon Wiesenthal’s Nazi-hunting Documentation Center in Vienna. In response to a letter from Harry Evans, a New York lawyer and friend of the center, Mr. Podell said: “I share your concern over Mr. Wiesenthal’s predicament.” Mr. Evans has also received a letter from Mr. Wiesenthal informing him that “many letters and telegrams of protest arrived from over the world, and only this alone can help.” The Austrian government has accused the Documentation Center of being a “secret-agent” operation, and has threatened to shut it down.