Jews in Austria Impatient with Government’s Tactics over Restitution

Leaders of the Austrian Jewish community, irked by the Government’s snail’s pace in the enactment of long-promised legislation to authorize restitution to Austrian Jewish victims of nazism, today bluntly indicated their impatience.

Die Gemeinde, official organ of the Jewish community, stated today that the Jews of Austria may use “strongest, last methods, ” unless such legislation is adopted by the Parliament very soon. The “last methods, ” it is assumed, will consist of open demonstrations or of an appeal to world public opinion, in final efforts to force governmental action.

Both the People’s Party and the Socialist Party, which form the coalition Austrian Government, have pledged repeatedly that they intend to enact legislation to satisfy the claims of Austrian victims of nazism. A bill authorizing restitution has been pending in Parliament for years, and is supposed to be considered for final enactment early this winter.

The Jewish community has been negotiating with the Government on this issue. The Austrian Government has been claiming that the major responsibility for the losses suffered by Austrian Jews under the Nazi regime must be borne by Germany, and is pressing the Federal Republic of Germany to bear the largest share of this “burden.”

(A Jewish Telegraphic Agency dispatch from Bonn reported today that German-Austrian negotiations about Germany’s share of compensation to Nazi victims in Austria will be resumed next week. Germany is reported to have offered to pay Austria a total of 250, 000, 000 marks ($62, 000, 000) on this account. The sum, however, will be not only for compensation to Jewish victims of nazism in Austria, but also for restitution to “war victims” in general and for aid to postwar refugees in Austria.)