Oscar Wilheim, 60-year-old Austrian Jew who was in charge of the restitution of landed properties in Austria to Jewish owners, has been sentenced by a Russia military court to two years in a Siberian labor camp, it was announced today.
Wilheim had been appointed by the Austrian Government to direct the colonization society which took over from the Nazi colonization office the properties seized from Jews. He was responsible for administering Jewish lands ponding legal measures for restoration.
Recently the Russian command in Vienna ordered the liquidation of the colonization society. Wilheim ignored the order, claiming the headquarters of the society was situated in the international zone where Russian orders are effective only with the permission of the Allied Control Council.
In a report to Austrian Chancellor Leopold Figl, Wilheim charged that the Russians had seized a large number of Jewish holdings on the grounds that they were German property. It is understood he also informed the foreign press of the move, thereby angering the Soviet commanders.
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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.
