Final approval was given here today to a bill allocating $240,000 by the West German Government for the construction of a home in Paris for aged refugees there who escaped from Germany during the Nazi regime. Approval came when the Bundestag passed the bill in its third reading.
The Bundestag action was based on a joint motion introduced by deputies of all major political parties. Approval of the appropriation by the deputies is attributable in part to a special showing of a moving documentary film on the wretched lives led in Paris garrets by aged Jews from Germany. Produced for the television station of the South German Radio under the title of “The Forgotten Ones,” it has already been exhibited over two German television networks.
Prof, Carlo Schmid, leader of the Social Democratic Party, who was Acting Speaker of the House when the measure reached the floor for the first time two weeks ago, is also chairman of a fund-raising parliamentary committee that was formed two years ago to support the project, but has so far met with only limited success in its appeal to private donors. Thousands of former German Jews lead a forlorn existence in the French capital, he told the Bundestag, explaining that two-thirds of them are ailing, 70 percent are over 60 years old and 30 percent dependent upon public relief. Many have not yet received any indemnification payments from Germany. The Bundestag would be discharging a debt of honor by voting this one-time contribution. Prof. Schmid declared.
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