Jewish circles expressed concern today regarding a statement by Minister of the Interior Vaclav Nosek that Jews in Czechoslovakia who registered as Germans in pre-war censuses, were Germanized or supported German schools, shall not be exempted from the decree providing confiscation of property belonging to Germans and Hungarians.
Although a presidential decree issued some months ago stated that all who suffered from Nazi terror would be exempted from the provisions of the confiscation law, Nosek told a session of the Czech National Council that “some people have been arrested, although of Jewish origin, and thus suffered partly from the Nazi terrorism. But we must find out how they behaved previously, and when they were Germanized, or whether they spoke German and supported German schools. If so, their property too should be confiscated.”
Jewish circles stress that this interpretation also runs counter to a Home Ministry decree which stated that racial persecution must be considered the equivalent of political persecution.
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