Thousands of Germans were today encouraged to reapply for visas to enter the United States, from which they were presumed barred because of past Nazi Party affiliation, on the basis of yesterday’s ruling by Attorney General J. Howard McGrath that “nominal membership” in the Nazi Party or other totalitarian organizations would not bar the admission of aliens to the United States.
The Attorney General’s ruling, sent to Secretary of State Dean Acheson as a guide for American consuls abroad who must decide whether to issue travel permits to aliens, defined “nominal membership as more membership during infancy, under 16 years of age or for purposes of obtaining employment, food ration cards, general education or through military service or similar circumstances, and the alien has not actively taken part in any atrocities committed by such totalitarian party or organization.”
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