Restitution payments to victims of Nazism in Austria, as provided by the laws adopted by the Austrian Parliament last year, may have to be postponed for another year, it was indicated here today by authoritative sources.
The possibility of such postponement was attributed to the fact that, under an agreement concluded last June between the Austrian and the West German Government, West Germany is to contribute 321,000,000 German marks–approximately $80,000,000–to the Austrian fund for compensation payments.
The agreement must still be approved by the West German Parliament. Because of the recent elections, a new Parliament must be organized, and this is not expected to be accomplished before November. On that schedule, the sources said, the Bonn Parliament probably would not take action on the agreement before the spring or summer of 1962. This, in turn, would mean that payments could not begin before the fall or winter of 1962-63, these sources said.
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