More than 1,500 men and women who were fortunate enough to survive the horrors of Nazi concentration camps met today at the Hotel Americana here to protest against the proposed amendments to the West German indemnification and restitution laws as being insufficient to meet the needs of the thousands of persons who, for one reason or another, have not received just restitution or indemnification from the Bonn Government.
The meeting, sponsored by nine groups, adopted a resolution which was sent to the West German Prime Minister Ludwig Erhard, Foreign Minister Gerhard Schroeder and Finance Minister Rolf Dahlgruon. Paying tribute to the contribution of the West German Republic for what it has done in “the field of compensation,” the resolution pointed out that many Nazi persecutees, who have received no restitution or indemnification, “have act only a moral but also an indisputable right to be compensated for their sufferings.” The resolution requested:
1. Equal rights for persecutees “who left the Eastern bloc countries after the deadline of October 1, 1953” who have received no compensation from the German Government; 2. Equality of treatment for widows “whose husbands passed away before October 1, 1953” but who so far have received no compensation; and 3. Compensation for persons whose health suffered because of internment in labor camps or ghettoes “or for reasons of persecution have lived hidden under inhuman circumstances” on a level equal to those who have received compensation as a result of “incarceration in a concentration camp.”
The resolution also asked that “persecutees unable under the provision of the German restitution law to comply with the key provision of proving the transfer of seized property to the geographical area prescribed by the law should have the opportunity to register their claim and therefore the registration dates under the law should be reopened. The nine organizations, sponsoring the mass meeting and signing the resolution, were: The Association of Yugoslav Jews in the U. S., United Rumanian Jews of America, Club of Polish Jews, Jewish Nazi Victims Organization of America, American Association of Former European Jurists, American Federation of Jews from Central Europe, Association of Jews from Czechoslovakia in the U.S., World Federation of Hungarian Jews, and the Widows Group.
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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.
