300 Groups Apply for Funds to Conference on Jewish Claims

Jewish organizations numbering more than 300 and operating in 29 countries throughout the world have filed requests with the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany for funds to carry on relief and rehabilitation activities among Jewish victims of Nazi persecution, the Claims Conference announced here today.

The Claims Conference reported that the total allocation requests for relief and rehabilitation activities for 1955 exceed $45,000,000. This is five times greater than the $9-10,000,000 which is expected to be available for allocation this year for the relief, rehabilitation and resettlement of Nazi victims outside of Israel. In 1954 the Conference allocated $9,000,000 for these purposes.

Of the applications filed, organizations have requested a total of $30,000,000 for material relief and rehabilitation throughout the world, three-fourths of it for use in European countries. The remaining $15,000,000 is requested on behalf of Jewish cultural rehabilitation which includes projects for education, research and publication and the salvage of intellectual and cultural treasures destroyed by the Third Reich.

Final decisions relating to the Conference allocations for 1955 will be made by the board of directors at its meetings during the first week of February. Organizations operating in the following countries have filed applications: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Holland, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Yugoslavia, Canada, United States, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombian, Ecuador, Uruguay, Union of South Africa, Tunis, Algeria, Australia and The Philippines.