A big Jewish protest meeting was held here today against a measure now before the Austrian Parliament which provides for confiscation of all Jewish-owned land not managed directly by the owners themselves. The bill also calls for the creation of a fund from Jewish property for which no heirs can be found, the proceeds to be used to compensate those people who had to surrender Jewish property to their original owners.
Pointing out that there is a great deal of this type of property as a result of the slaughter of the Jews by the Nazis, the sponsors of the rally declared that the proposals would amount to “a 1950 edition of the Nuremberg racial laws” under which Jews in Nazi Germany were presecuted. The proposal is being supported by some Socialist and People’s (Catholic) Party members of the Austrian Parliament, but there has been no indication that a majority of M.P.’s favor it.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
