The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany has called on the government of East Germany to pay compensation to the surviving victims of Nazi persecution wherever they may be. The call was contained in a resolution adopted at a meeting of the Conference here marking the 25th anniversary of the signing of reparations and indemnification agreements with the Federal Republic of West Germany. The meeting closed last week.
The resolution was addressed to the German Democratic Republic (GDR) and to Erich Honecker, First Secretary of the GDR’s Socialist Unity Party. It urged the GDR to recognize its humanitarian obligations to the survivors of Nazi ghettos and concentration camps. Dr. Nahum Goldmann, president of the Conference which represents 23 national and international Jewish organizations, noted that the GDR inherited about one-third of the territory and assets of the Third Reich but has consistently refused to recognize any legal or moral responsibility for Nazi crimes.
“We hope that the leadership of the German Democratic Republic, some of whom were incarcerated in Nazi concentration camps, will finally recognize the moral imperative of our claims and promptly proceed to negotiate a fair and equitable settlement,” Goldmann said.
SITUATION IN WEST GERMANY
The Conference also dealt with the historic reparations agreements with West Germany, negotiated in Holland in 1952, which provided the Claims Conference with DM 450 million for the relief, rehabilitation and resettlement of Jewish victims of the Nazi era. The Bonn government also agreed to enact legislation that would compensate Nazi victims directly for personal injuries and losses arising from Nazi persecution.
At the some time, Israel and West Germany concluded a reparations pact by which Germany paid DM 3 billion in goods and services to Israel over a period of 12-14 years as compensation for the absorption by Israel of Jewish survivors. Dr. Goldmann noted that “The German Federal Republic has conscientiously discharged its financial obligations to Israel and the Claims Conference.”
Dr. Ernst Katzenstein, the Claims Conference representative in Germany since 1956, reported: “Significant commitments still await implementation in the years ahead and the Claims Conference will continue to follow closely future developments to make certain that the rights of Nazi victims under existing and future lows are properly protected.”
Saul Kagan, treasurer of the Claims Conference and its executive secretary from 1951-1961, said, “Claims Conference allocations in excess of $110,000,000 aided communities and organizations in 40 countries throughout the world.” Over the years, he continued, “more than 200,000 individuals benefitted from Conference grants in the field of relief and economic rehabilitation; over 480 capital projects in 29 countries, including schools, community and youth centers, homes for the aged, children’s and youth homes were undertaken with Conference aid.”
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