Austrian Foreign Minister Karl Gruber said today that he was opposed to inclusion in the peace treaty with Austria being drawn up by the Big Four deputies of a clause safeguarding Jewish rights.
Gruber, who heads the Austrian delegation which arrived here this morning, told a press conference that insertion of such a clause would constitute undesirable discrimination between Jews and non-Jews. He pointed out that Jews were now entitled to full restitution of property taken from them after the Anschluss and that Jewish organizations had been given an opportunity to submit their views on restitution laws to the government.
Gruber admitted, however, that the Austrian Government was opposed to creation of a special Jewish Rehabilitation Fund from the proceeds of heirless property. When a reporter asked to what extent restitution of Jewish property had been effected, an official of the delegation intervened to say that it took considerable time to gather the necessary facts.
An Australian memorandum suggesting inclusion in the Austrian treaty of a clause guaranteeing human rights and provisions for its enforcement was submitted today to the deputies. The memorandum pointed out that the clause by itself, without machinery for effective application of the principles contained therein, would be inadequate.
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