Goldmann Blasts Austria on Jewish Claims; Negotiations Stymied

Profound dissatisfaction with the failure of the Austrian Government to present acceptable proposals for a settlement of Jewish material claims for restitution of property stolen by the Nazi regime, despite many promises to do so, was expressed here today by Dr. Nahum Goldmann, president of the Jewish Committee for Claims on Austria, and Dr. Emil Maurer, president of the Union of Austrian Jewish Communities and vice-president of the claims committee.

Speaking at a press conference called after a meeting of the executive board of the claims committee, Dr. Goldmann reviewed the history of the negotiations which have dragged on for more than 18 months. Although on some minor matters some progress has been made, Dr. Goldmann said, fundamentally the negotiations were one uninterrupted series of delaying tactics and promises made but not kept.

On several occasions Chancellor Julius Raab promised he would put forward new proposals, Dr. Goldmann recalled, noting one such instance when in a letter addressed to the claims committee on July 6, 1954, a formal promise was made that by the Fall of 1954 new proposals would be submitted. No such proposals were made, the claims committee head stressed.

FINAL DECISION OF JEWISH CLAIMS COMMITTEE DUE SOON

“As matters stand now, there is no new offer and nothing to negotiate about,” Dr. Goldmann declared. “Today’s executive board meeting of the claims committee decided to stand on its statement of Nov. 19, 1954 in Washington to the effect that unless a new offer is received the negotiations will not be reopened. The last stage of this chapter has been reached and we will wait for a little while to see if any new offer is forthcoming to serve as a basis for negotiation. If not, the committee will have to make a final decision about the whole issue.”

Dr. Goldmann added that the claims committee had authorized him to call another meeting of the committee in the near future to take up the final question concerning the fate of the negotiations.

In reviewing developments concerning the claims talks, Dr. Goldmann emphasized that Chancellor Raab, in a press interview before his departure from the United States last December, announced that within two weeks after his return to Vienna such proposals would be made. “Despite this and other assurances,” Dr. Goldmann said, “we have had no word from Chancellor Raab since his communication of July 6, 1954.

“Last week, “Dr. Goldmann continued, “the Austrian Government announced that the Cabinet had established a committee of five ministers to deal with this problem. As a matter of fact, such a committee was established in the Summer of 1953 when negotiations started. The impression made, therefore, that something new had been done to further the negotiations is quite erroneous.”

LACK OF MORAL APPROACH BY AUSTRIA CITED BY DR. GOLDMANN

Dr. Goldmann pointed out that during the negotiations, the claims committee had reduced its demands again and again. Nevertheless, as things stood today, there was not even a basis for further negotiations or for any agreement. The main reason for the failure of the talks, in Dr. Goldmann’s opinion, is the fact that the Austrian Government did not approach the issue as a moral obligation of the Austrian people and Government to make good at least to a small degree the terrible crimes committed against the hundreds of thousands of Austrian Jews by the Nazi regime in Austria, which was supported and welcomed by a very large part of the Austrian population.

The Austrian Government, Dr. Goldmann added, seems to think that the Jewish organizations are just begging for some money. He underlined the fact that the 22 organizations, which constitute the claims committee, are spending very large sums of money annually for Jewish purposes and the small amount involved in the negotiations with Austria is in itself not of decisive importance.

“We felt that we should give Austria an opportunity to discharge its moral responsibility after what happened during the Nazi period in Austria and the pro-Nazi attitude of millions of Austrians, “Dr. Goldmann averred. What the claims committee worked for, he went on, were a series of legislative and administrative measures in order to give some compensation for their tremendous economic losses to the tens of thousands of surviving Jewish victims of Nazi persecution in Austria, individually and without discrimination against those who are not living any longer in Austria.

COMPARES AUSTRIA’S STAND WITH GERMANY’S SETTLEMENT OF JEWISH CLAIMS

The claims committee also sought payments to rebuild and equip synagogues and other Jewish communal institutions destroyed by the Nazis, provision for the housing of Jewish victims of persecution, compensation for economic losses not identifiable under existing laws, and moral compensation for the large amount of Jewish property which was destroyed or looted and for which no heirs or claimants survived. This compensation would be used exclusively for Jewish victims of Nazi persecution living in Austria or former Austrian Jews living abroad, Dr. Goldmann pointed out.

He rejected the Austrian Government’s assertions that the claims committee was not representative enough. He pointed out that the committee consists of 22 of the major Jewish organizations of the free world, representing the overwhelming majority of world Jewry. The committee, he said, has the same structure as the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany which negotiated the Luxemburg agreement with the Federal Republic of Germany, for $833,000,000. “If the committee was representative enough for the German Government, it could certainly be considered representative by the Austrian Government in a case where the issues at stake are infinitely smaller,” he declared.

He pointed out that the claims committee has been recognized by the three Western Powers occupying Austria and that the Jews of Austria are represented on the committee by the Union of Jewish Communities of Austria. Dr. Ernil Maurer, the Union’s president, is a vice president of the claims committee executive board, Dr. Goldmann noted.

Dr. Maurer, speaking at the press conference, reaffirmed the full solidarity of Austrian Jews with the efforts of the Jewish communities throughout the world to secure a small measure of compensation for the survivors of Nazi brutality wherever they may now be. “As a citizen of Austria, If feel particularly aggrieved by the lack of understanding which the Austrian Government has displayed in these negotiations,” he said. “I deplore especially the efforts being made by Austrian officials to separate the Jews residing in Austria from the efforts being made by the Jewish organizations outside Austria.”