U.s., Britain, France Get Jewish Complaint Against Austria

An appeal for intercession by the governments of the United States, Britain and France on the issue of Jewish claims against Austria has been addressed to John Foster Dulles, Anthony Eden and Georges Bidault on the eve of the Big Four meeting in Berlin, it was announced today by the Committee for Jewish Claims on Austria, representing 22 major Jewish organizations throughout the world.

The known sympathy of the three Governments for the Jewish claims “makes it inconceivable,” the Committee said, “that a settlement of the Austrian problem could take place without adequate redress of the material wrongs inflicted upon Austrian Jewry during the Nazi period.” It is therefore “necessary at this juncture,” the memorandum points out, that the governments of the United States, Britain and France “secure a binding commitment on the part of Austria to settle without delay the claims of the surviving victims of Nazi persecution.”

The negotiations between the Committee and the Austrian Government were initiated June 17, 1953 and reached a deadlock late last month as a result of Chancellor Raab’s refusal to negotiate a settlement of heirless Jewish property until the signing of an Austrian peace treaty. Discussion of such settlement was actively on the agenda with the consent of Chancellor Raab and his Cabinet from the very outset of his talks last June.

The memorandum recalls that almost nine years have elapsed since the end of the war, “yet the measures taken by the Austrian Government with the exception of loss for restitution of traceable individual property have remained utterly inadequate; on the other hand, the Austrian Government has not hesitated to initiate measures directed toward the moral and material rehabilitation of former active members of the Nazi Party.”

AUSTRIA’S RELUCTANCE TO REDRESS WRONGS AGAINST JEWS CITED

Negotiations, begun on June 17, followed “many abortive attempts on the part of the Jewish organizations to bring about the enactment of measures for some redress of the wrongs committed against Austrian Jewry,” the memorandum says. “The good offices of the Allied Powers were of importance in bringing about the opening of the negotiations and their representatives repeatedly expressed the hope that the negotiations would result in a mutually satisfactory settlement.”

In tracing the history of the Jewish claims, the memorandum states: “From the first day of the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany the full fury of anti-Jewish physical persecution and legislative measures in all their cruelty was directed against the Jews of Austria. These measures were carried out with the active cooperation of large sections of the population of Austria. The measures of persecution were accompanied by wholesale confiscation and looting of Jewish property; the material losses suffered by Austrian Jewry are estimated to amount to approximately $1,200,000,000. Of 183,000 Jews who were living in Austria at the time of the annexation, about 60,000 were deported to the death camps and exterminated. The others saved themselves from certain death by emigration, leaving behind almost their entire belongings.”

The Jewish organizations at the outset of their negotiations with Austria listed the following demands which would benefit Austrians and former Austrians of all faiths who suffered Nazi persecution: Compensation for deprivation of liberty, loss of life and damage to health; compensation for loss of income to the members of the the professions and to independent merchants; compensation for the loss of furniture, valuables and private savings of whatever kind; removal of inequities and discriminations existing in Austrian legislation against state officials and employees of corporations forced to emigrate from Austria.

Demands dealing with the specific problems of Jewish persecutees were: Measures to provide for adequate housing for Jewish families in Austria who have returned to that country; compensation for damage to synagogues and other religious or cultural institutions; the payment of a lump sum for heirless and unclaimed property confiscated from Jews who died as a result of persecution. The monies would be used for the relief and rehabilitation of Jewish victims of persecution in Austria, whether living inside or outside that country.