Nearly 250,000,000 Reichsmarks worth of property, the great bulk of which was formerly owned by Jews, has been seized by the American Military Government in Bavaria and is currently being administered under the strict supervision of its property control division, it was learned today.
Military government officials told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that Jewish property totals about seven percent of all properties seized by the American forces. The properties are administered by a German custodian who regularly submits his books and accounts to the Americans.
A military government spokesman said that when a Jew now living outside of Germany writes the A.M.G. stating that his former property was confiscated or sold under duress, the military government investigates the claim, and if the Jew’s story is corroborated, the property is seized whether or not the present owner is considered politically reliable. In the case of a private home, the resident is not evicted but he must pay rent to the American Military Government.
The property is now being held in trust by the Americans pending the adoption of a final restitution law which is being drawn up now by German provincial officials and American military officers in Stuttgart and Berlin.
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