Jewish Leaders Warn Bonn on ‘diluting’ Indemnification Program

The process of normalizing relations between Jews and Gar-many “will be prolonged and hard if the West German Government insists on diluting its indemnification program, ” Curt Silbermann of New York, president of the American Federation of Jews from Central Europe, told a press conference here yesterday.

Both he and Kurt Grossman, of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, outlined the views of the two organizations on the indemnification issue at a special press briefing. Both officials stressed that West German objections to extending the deadline for victims of Nazi persecution to file claims for compensation were based on a false estimate of the situation.

“There is a fear in the Government, especially in the Finance Ministry, that lifting the October 1, 1953 deadline, which now prevents some 100,000 victims of Nazism from filing claims, will cost several billion dollars, ” Mr. Silbermann said. This was the deadline which many victims, caught behind the Iron Curtain on that date, were unable to meet.

“There is no justification for this feeling, ” he asserted. “In estimating the costs of such compensation, the Government fails to take into account, first of all, the mortality rate among people receiving indemnification, and second, the fact that many claims which were filed have not been honored.”

He also described what he called several myths which govern the West German treaty on indemnification. One of these, he said, was the feeling that victims of Nazi persecution were making too many “unreasonable” demands and that the number of people getting indemnification is far greater than is actually the case.

There is also a feeling that there must be a deadline, he asserted, though in fact the present law establishes a retroactive deadline. Then there is the widespread view, he pointed out, that the Government and the country cannot afford to pay more for restitution and compensation despite the fact that West Germany is one of the richest countries in the world. Above all, he said, there is the prevalent feeling that indemnification is not a right of the victims but rather an act of generosity on the part of the West German Government.

“It is easier to win sympathy for victims of the Berlin wall today than it is to get it for people persecuted by the Nazis, ” Mr. Silbermann said. He and Mr. Grossman made a direct appeal to West German journalists to bring to the attention of the public the problems pertaining to the Government’s proposed amendments of indemnification legislation now pending in Parliament.