A threat to early payments of compensation to Austrian victims of the Nazi period developed today when it was announced here that the Bonn Government asked postponement of negotiations with Austria on a West German contribution to the Austrian fund for such payments.
Approval by the Austrian Parliament of indemnification payments was made contingent on such a West German contribution, which the Bonn Government-had approved in principle. Details were to have been worked out at a meeting April 9-10 between Austrian Foreign Minister Bruno Kreisky and West German Foreign Minister Heinrich von Brentano, The Austrian Parliamentary approval of such payments was made last week and came 16 years after Austria regained its independence from Nazi rule.
The official reason given for the postponement of the Austrian-West German talks was that West German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer intended to visit President Kennedy in Washington just about the same time the talks were to take place.
The postponement meant that an agreement between the two countries would not be signed before the end of the summer session of the West German Parliament. This in turn raised the prospect that negotiations would not be resumed before next fall, leaving victims of the Nazi period still wondering when payments would finally be made to them.
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.
