The West German Government has agreed to extend its present indemnification laws to cover victims of Nazi persecution in the Rumanian provinces of Bucovina, Transnistria and Bessarabia who filed their claims prior to the legal cut-off date of October 1, 1953, it was announced today by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, now in session here.
The German agreement, which followed extended representations by the Conference, will benefit an estimated 40,000 Jews who managed to leave Rumania before October, 1953 and filed compensation claims. As a result of German recognition of the principle that these people were entitled to compensation, Dr. Nahum Goldmann, conference chairman, said, it is hoped that thousands of claims that have remained dormant until this issue was resolved will now be speedily settled.”
At the same time, however, the Conference registered its “deep concern” over the fact that “many thousands” of potential claimants from Rumania have been ruled out as potential indemnification beneficiaries by the German insistence on the October 1, 1953, deadline for filing. These thousands, the Conference stated, were “not fortunate enough to escape to the free world and file claims before the legal expiration date.”
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