Move to Win Post-war Reparations for Reich, Polish Refugees Launched in Paris

An organized movement for registration of Jewish property confiscated by the Nazis either in the Reich or in occupied Poland, looking to reparations after the war is ended, was launched here today.

Stimulus for the movement was publication of a decree in the French Official Gazette ordering all Frenchmen forced to leave Germany to register their war losses against the Reich with a special office established at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

It is estimated that there are in France more than 20,000 Jewish refugees from Germany whose fortunes were seized by the Nazi regime and it is pointed out that the case of France against Germany in the matter of reparations will be greatly strengthened if all the property of Polish, Czech and German Jews who were compelled to flee the Reich is added to the claims of French citizens against Germany.

A statement issued by organizations interested in securing reparations from Germany for confiscated or destroyed Jewish property emphasizes that the claims of German citizens against France total more than those of French citizens against Germany, since only a small number of Frenchmen resided in the Reich.

This difference, the statement points out, can easily be offset if France includes in its reparations demands the claims of refugees from the various areas taken over by Germany as well as those of exiles from the Reich proper. Such an approach to the problem, it is emphasized, would ensure for France a favorable reparations balance and at the same time enable the refugees to recover at least part of their losses at the hands of Germany.