Franco-German negotiations for indemnification of victims of Nazism have hit a snag and have been postponed until October, it was announced here by the Foreign Office today.
The French, according to the information made available here, insist that indemnification be paid to former resistance fighters against the Nazis as well as to persons who had suffered persecutions for religious, racial and ideological reasons. Such broadening of the indemnification formula, in the opinion of the Foreign Office here, would raise West Germany’s liability by several hundred million deutsche marks and would violate a German-Allied agreement which provides that reparations claims be postponed until after a final peace settlement.
West Germany has recently concluded indemnification treaties with Norway, Denmark and Luxembourg, but those agreements do not include resistance fighters. Victims of Nazism due to the Norwegian occupation will receive 60 million marks; those in Denmark, 16 million marks; others in Luxembourg, 18 million marks. Negotiations are now in progress with The Netherlands, providing for payments to total an estimate of 110, 000, 000 deutschemarks.
In another development today, touching on indemnification, assurance was given here by the Federal Court of Financial Review that the court will “do everything in its power to accelerate indemnification” of victims of Nazism Germany. A complaint against the court’s “strict attitude” which, allegedly “has been used as an excuse for delaying compensation payments” had been lodged with the court by the Central Association of German Organizations of Nazi Victims. The court’s reassurance was issued in response to that complaint.
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