Considerable resentment was caused here yesterday by a statement made by the West German Minister of Justice, Dr. T. Dehler, criticizing the Israel Government for refusing to establish diplomatic relations with Germany.
The Minister spoke at a conference of Jewish lawyers here. He blamed the Western Powers for Germany’s failure to make restitution payments to political and racial victims of the Nazis, and accused representatives of the Western Powers in Germany of “deliberately and unfairly fomenting distrust of the German people.” He singled out for criticism Benjamin Buttenweiser, former American Assistant High Commissioner for Germany, who recently stated that Nazi sentiment is still strong in Germany.
Numerous delegates at the conference criticized the speech of the German Minister. Some expressed disappointments over the fact that he did not use the opportunity to promise full co-operation on the part of the West German Government to make reparation to Nazi victims. The conference decided to establish a permanent organization of Jewish lawyers in Western Germany.
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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.
