Fulfilment of West German indemnification commitments are “generally satisfactory” despite weaknesses of the law and deficiencies in administrative practices, Dr. Nahum Goldmann, president of the World Jewish Congress, declared here in a West German television network interview.
He said that while the cost, now estimated at between 18 billion and 20 billion marks, had by far exceeded the original estimates, the Federal Republic has not tried to use the higher cost as an occasion for changing the legislation.
Dr. Goldmann also said that on the initiative of Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, basic improvements had been made in the application of the law and he expressed the hope that additional improvements would be adopted during the current session of the West German Parliament.
Declaring that “moral indemnification” was a much more difficult problem in West Germany, the world Jewish leader said that many Germans, “consciously or unconsciously, are closing their eyes to their task, an attitude which I can understand but not condone.”
He emphasized, during the television interview, that Israel had a “full moral right to try Adolf Eichmann,” the Gestapo leader who will go on trial in Jerusalem April 11 on charges of crimes against the Jewish people and against humanity for his role in directing the murder of 6,000,000 European Jews. Dr. Goldmann said he was convinced that because of the “exceptionally high standards” of Israeli Jurisprudence, the trial would “most certainly” be a fair one.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
