A move to allay the criticism voiced by Jewish organizations against the Austrian Government for delaying legislation on payment of indemnification to Nazi victims was made this weekend by the Social Committee of the Austrian Parliament in approving a bill that would provide at least a token indemnity payment to the surviving victims, including those who were forced to flee Austria during the Nazi regime.
However, the bill was approved with the stipulation that it would enter into force only if the West German Government is signed an agreement to contribute to the cost of indemnification. The Austrian Government is reportedly seeking a contribution of $500,000,000 from the Bonn Government.
Negotiations on West German contribution to Austrian indemnification have already begun between the two countries and will be continued next month when Austrian Foreign Minister Bruno Kreisky visits West German Foreign Minister Heinrich von Brentano at a vacation resort in southern Germany. The Bonn Government has not yet committed itself on any specific sum. The Austrian claim on West Germany is based on the fact that the Hitler regime was responsible for the deaths and persecution of hundreds of thousands of Austrian citizens.
(In Jerusalem, Dr. Nahum Goldmann, chairman of the Jewish Claims Conference, indicated today that the conference between the Austrian and West German Foreign Ministers on indemnification to Nazi victims in Austria will take place on April 9. This conference. Dr. Goldmann said, may be decisive because further negotiations may be stopped if Austria will not present a reasonable offer. If the negotiations are terminated, the West German Government would channel its own share of indemnification directly to the representatives of 30, 000 Austrian Jews eligible to receive indemnification.)
Payments under the Austrian bill would include 350 schillings ($13.50) for each month of incarceration; 6. 000 schillings ($230. 75) to each Jew who was made to wear the Star of David insignia for at least six months; 10, 000 schillings ($484. 65) to persons whose earning capacity was reduced 50 percent for a period of three-and-a-half years; and 6, 000 schillings to persons who could not complete their education because of the persecution of their parents or themselves. Claimants falling into more than one category, according to the bill, would not be eligible for more than one payment.
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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.
