Jewish Groups in London Protest German Non-payment of Claims

A delegation of leaders representing virtually every section of Jewry in this country protested vigorously today to the German Ambassador here against plans by the Bonn Government to postpone payments due to certain Jewish victims of Nazism.

The payments are those authorized by recent German legislation for payment of restitution to victims of Nazism who were unable to file claims prior to the old cut-off date of October 1, 1953 because they could not escape from countries behind the Iron Curtain by that date. The legislation had authorized payment in 1966 of a first installment of $50,000,000 to the post-1953 claimants. However, Dr. Rolf Dahlgruen, West Germany’s Minister of Finance, announced that the 1966 installment would be deferred due to anticipated budgetary deficits. The group includes an estimated 150,000 Jews.

The delegation presented its protest to Herbert Blankenhor, West Germany’s Ambassador here, for transmission to Bonn. In the protest, the group stated that some of the victims of Nazism concerned are old people who may not live long enough to receive the payments due them, if the postponement materializes. They pointed out that the post-1953 claimants waited 20 years before they could even file their claims, and stated that, if the delay is effected, it would “undermine confidence in the sincerity of the Bonn Government’s declared intention to redress the unprecedented evils committed by the Nazis.”

Participating in the protest were Sir Barnett Janner, former president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, who is now chairman of the Board’s foreign affairs committee; Sir Henry d’Avigdor Goldsmid, president of the Jewish Trust Corporation, representing the Central British Fund; Harold Sebag Montefiore, chairman of the foreign affairs committee of the Anglo-Jewish Association; Dr. S. Breslauer, vice-president of the Council of Jews from Germany; and A. L. Easterman and Dr. S. J. Both, representing the World Jewish Congress.