Henri Rolin, a State Minister and Socialist Senator, proposed today to the Foreign Ministry that arrangements should be made to pay indemnities from West German reparations funds to Belgian Jews who escaped deportation but suffered nevertheless during the Nazi occupation.
In a written memorandum to the Foreign Ministry, Sen. Rolin reviewed the history of the agreement by West Germany to set up a reparations fund of 80, 000, 000 marks ($20, 000,000) which, under a royal decree, was to be apportioned to Belgian political prisoners. He said no arrangements were made for Belgian Jews who were victims of a variety of Nazi abuses, though escaping deportation.
Asserting that this was an act of injustice, the senator pointed out that a substantial part of the West German fund remained undistributed. He proposed a new regulation to pay indemnities to persecuted Belgian Jews forced to wear the Yellow Star and who were the victims of the maltreatment that went with wearing that designation. He said such regulations were now in effect in West Germany and Holland.
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