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Berlin Official Disputes Bonn Finance Minister on Reparations

May 13, 1958
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The 185,000 victims of the Nazi regime who filed restitution claims before the deadline of last March 31 will receive at least $1,250, 000, 000 from the city of Berlin by 1963, it was estimated today by Sen. Joachim Lipschitz, in charge of the interior department of the municipal administration. Two-thirds of all applicants who filed in Berlin live abroad, while the remainder are scattered throughout Germany, Including this city.

Sen. Lipschitz quarreled with the estimates of the cost of compensation to the German economy offered some months ago by Federal Justice Minister Fritz Schaeffer. Herr Schaeffer believes that Germany will have to pay the Jews something in the vicinity of $6, 000, 000, 000.Sen, Lipschitz figures are about half that.

Additionally, Sen. Lipschitz pointed out that since restitution and compensation legislation covers political as well as religious persecutees, many of the claimants included in the estimates are non-Jewish. Drawing on his experiences during recent visits to Israel and the United States, he asserted that many Jews had refused to file applications for restitution to which they were legally entitled.

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