Hope that the negotiations between the Austrian Government and representatives of Jewish organizations claiming reparations for damages suffered by Jews under the Nazi regime in Austria will be concluded successfully in the very near future, was expressed at a press conference here today by Dr. Nahum Goldmann, chairman of the central Jewish body which is now conducting the talks with the representatives of the Austrian Government in Vienna.
“My first discussion with the Austrian Chancellor, Dr. Julius Raab, and his colleagues was satisfactory, “Dr. Goldmann stated.”I left Vienna with the impression that the Chancellor and his government realize the importance of the Jewish demands. These demands are based on a moral obligation of the Austrian people to restitute both individual and heirless Jewish property taken away by the Nazis, and to create appropriate legislation to indemnify the victims of Nazi persecution for all the losses and harm they suffered during the Nazi period.
“After Germany reached an agreement with Israel and with Jewish organizations on the payment of reparations and is making a serious effort to make good, it would be unimaginable that Austria, being a liberated country, would not be ready to make a sacrifice, if necessary, to meet the justified demands of the Jews,” Dr. Goldmann continued. “I hope that the negotiations now going on in Vienna will not bog down in petty bargaining and legal or bureaucratic disputes.
“It is for Chancellor Raab and his government to lay down policy and to show to the world that Austria is determined to make a real effort to undo the wrong and to satisfy the legitimate claims of tens of thousands of Jewish victims of Nazi persecution in and outside Austrian and to restore heirless Jewish property, so that it can be used to enable Austrian Jews the world over to improve their conditions and be rehabilitated. I have no doubt whatsoever that the Austrian Government, as they assured me and my colleagues, will have good will and determination to reach an agreement with our delegation and that the negotiations now going on will end the very near future with complete success.
“Jews and non-Jewish friends and well-wishers of Austria will certainly regard the result of these negotiations as a supreme test of the Austrian democracy and its resolve to disavow injustices and horrors committed by the Nazi regime in Austria,” Dr. Goldmann declared.
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