German Chancellor Helmut Kohl promised Jewish leaders this week that his government will modify a controversial draft law that in its current form would tax Jews 25 percent for the return of property seized by the Nazis, mostly in eastern Germany.
In a private meeting Wednesday in Bonn with Ignatz Bubis, head of the German Jewish community, and officials from the World Jewish Congress, Kohl said that the tax requirement would be altered for victims of the Nazis, according to a Jewish official who was present.
The proposed law was aimed at clearing up questions of property ownership and would apply to land seized by both the Nazis and the communist regime of the former East Germany.
Hundreds of millions of dollars of property is believed to be involved.
Jewish officials have objected to the draft law, saying that the tax requirement meant that, in effect, Jews were being asked to pay for stolen goods.
Kohl told the Jewish leaders that the draft law was not the final word and that the Jewish community would be dealt with separately, apart from the general restitution law.
WJC President Edgar Bronfman, who was among those who met with Kohl, described the talk as “warm, friendly and constructive.
“The chancellor was clearly sympathetic to those who had suffered under the Nazis,” Bronfman said.
Kohl said he had secured agreement both within the ruling party as well as from the opposition parties for changing the proposed law as it dealt with Jews.
The proposed law already contains a break for Jews, who would have paid a tax of 25 percent of current market value, while non-Jews would pay 33 percent.
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