Israel and the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany signed a supplementary agreement here today on implementation of reparations agreements signed in Luxemberg with West Germany and covering payment by Israel to the Conference of the $107,000,000 being paid by West Germany to Israel in settlement of the Conference’s claims.
Ambassador Abba S. Eban signed the agreement for Israel and it was signed for the Conference by Jacob Blaustein, president of the American Jewish Committee; Frank Goldmann, president of B’nai B’rith; Dr. Israel Goldstein, president of the American Jewish Congress; and Adolph Held, president of the Jewish Labor Committee.
The agreement will be submitted to the Conference’s policy committee, on which all 22 member organizations are represented, at its next meeting. Sept. 17. At that time the policy committee will begin working out plans for the distribution of the Conference’s share of the reparations.
A statement issued by the Conference praesidium at the signing reads; “The signing of the agreements today in Luxemburg and New York marks the close of a significant stage of the joint effort of Israel and the Conference to obtain Germany’s recognition of its obligation to discharge Jewish material claims against Germany. Both the Government of Israel and the Jewish organizations throughout the world had long and jointly labored to rebuild the shattered lives of multitudes of Hitler’s victims and today’s agreement is an important contribution toward that end.”
Ambassador Eban, in a statement for his government, declared: “The signing of the agreements in Luxemburg today will strengthen the general belief in the power of justice. Germany has acknowledged her responsibility for the crimes committed against the Jewish people.
“The agreement we have signed here today, for its part, is further evidence of the great partnership between the people of Israel and the Jewish organizations throughout the world who have by their joint efforts been responsible for the miraculous recovery of the Jewish people from the effects of the Nazi period. The continuation and strengthening of that partnership will, I am sure. lead to the consolidation of the gains which have already been made in Israel.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
