Dr. David Shapira, President of the Vienna Jewish Community, charged today that none of the promises made by leading Austrian Government officials some six months ago have been fulfilled. Consequently, Dr. Shapira told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, the 10,000 Jews in Vienna are extremely dissatisfied with the delay in property restitution and inadequate housing facilities.
Although Dr. Leopold Figl, Austrian Chancellor, asked Peter Krauland, Minister for Property Control, to consult with Jewish leaders on questions of restitution, Dr. Shapira declared, Krauland asserted that “the Vienna Jewish Community must be regarded as a religious institution, the same as the Catholic or Protestant Church.”
Dr. Shapira said that Krauland told him that “since the other two religious institutions are not permitted to delegate special advisors to restitution meetings,” an exception cannot be made in the case of the Jewish community.Shapira expressed the belief that the delay in restitution stems from a basic lack of good will on the part of the government, as well as insufficient qualified restitution personnel. He said that there are at present many former Nazis and Nazi sympathizers holding jobs in the Ministry of Property Control.
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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.
