A committee composed of members of both houses of the West German Parliament today unanimously recommended a compromise formula designed to bring about the adoption of the government-sponsored bill to indemnify individual victims of Nazism, the majority of whom are Jews.
The bill was presented by the Government in accordance with the agreement reached with the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany. The formula which was agreed upon today by the joint committee of both houses is expected to be acceptable to the Bundestag as well as to the Bundesrat, the Lower and Upper Houses of the Parliament. It will be considered by them some time next week.
While the Bundestag passed the bill on July 2nd, the Bundesrat last week urged three separate changes, most important of which sought to allot a much larger part of the indemnification cost to the federal treasury and the smaller share to individual constituent states of the German Federal Republic.
The compromise worked out today by the joint committee provides that compensation for certain disputed items will be advanced by the state and later reimbursed by the federal treasury, with the bulk of the cost continuing to devolve upon the states. The compromise proposal will be voted on by the full Bundestag, the Lower House, next Wednesday. If the indemnification bill is to become a law, the version which the Bundestag will adopt must thereafter be approved by the Bundesrat, the Upper House, on Friday. The Bundestag, which has been sitting for four years, will be dissolved this month.
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