Bavarian Minister Reports to Parliament on Arrest of Chief of Restitution Office

The Bavarian Minister of Justice, Joseph Mueller, today appeared before the Parliament for the second time with a report on the case of Dr. Philip Auerbach, former chief of the Bavarian Restitution Office, who is now under arrest under charge of mismanagement. The Minister was more moderate today then in his first report. He declared that the Auerbach case is becoming more and more complicated.

The Bavarian Senate this week-end charged that the Bavarian Restitution Office is making payments too slowly despite the recent change in administration which followed the arrest of Auerbach. Sen. Josef Ackermann severely criticized the government for making an arrangement with banking groups permitting them to them to pay off claimants on the basis of 45 per cent of the recognized claim. The bankers will receive 75 per cent of the claim from the state, but not earlier than 1954. Another senator, Leonard Horlacher, suggested that priority in payment be given claimants 60 years of are and over, otherwise, he stated, the claimants might starve to death before receiving their lawful indemnification.

Meanwhile, Dr. Franz Zdralek, present head of the Restitution Office has announced the reorganization of the office into two separate parts: one dealing with validation of claims; the other making the actual payments. Dr. Zdralek has stated that since he took office several months ago, claims have been paid at the rate of 1,000,000 deutschemarks a month. Four more officials of the Auerbach administration have been dismissed and 25 placed on notice, bringing the total thus far to 12 dismissals and 31 persons on notice of dismissal.