The announcement by Austrian Chancellor Julius Raab that his government has offered $1,200,000 to the Committee for Jewish Claims on Austria as an advance payment on account of Jewish claims for restitution and heirless property, today elicited the following comment from Dr. Nahum Goldmann, president of the claims committee:
“The Committee for Jewish Claims on Austria has received no offer from the Austrian Government. Nine years have elapsed since the termination of the war, and a settlement of the claims of Hitler’s victims is long overdue. Much of the heirless property has become integrated in the Austrian economy. This property belongs to Hitler’s victims. It is they who should be its beneficiaries.
“Our demands are simple. We are requesting only a fraction of the actual amount of our losses under Nazi rule. An insignificant token amount, however, would neither help the victims nor cancel the moral obligation. Present Austrian legislation for Nazi victims is inadequate. We can settle for nothing less than reasonable advance payment for heirless property to hard core cases.
We shall not yield the principle, repeatedly enunciated by the U.S. Department of State, that Hitler’s victims of all faiths must be given first priority. I wish to repeat that it has never been our intent to enter a conflict with Austria. We are hopeful of a settlement but shall accept nothing less than equity. We shall welcome an acceptable formula for resumption of our negotiations with Austria.”
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