The State Department today issued a statement revealing that the U.S. Government has informed the Austrian Government of its dissatisfaction with the three pro-Nazi laws passed last week in the Austrian Parliament under which more than 20,000 former Nazis will have their property and civil rights restored. Jewish organizations in Austria and in the United States have protested against these laws.
The statement discloses that the U.S. Government also expressed its concern about the action taken by the Austrian Parliament amending the Third Restitution Law to the detriment of Jewish and other victims of Nazism. The U.S. Commissioner in Vienna, the statement emphasized, has been informed of the views of the State Department. As American representative on the Allied Council, the body which must approve the Austrian laws, he can veto the legislation and thus prevent the enactment of the measures.
The text of the State Department’s statement reads as follows:
"On July 18 the Lower House of the Austrian Parliament approved three laws granting L. Amnesty to certain implicated Nazis; 2. Cancellation of property forfeitures of certain implicated Nazis; and 3. Promotions for certain implicated Nazis whose civil service promotions had been frozen.
"The Lower House also approved a law amending the Third Restitution Law. The amendment provides that persons who had been required under the Third Restitution law to restitute land to victims of Nazi persecution now have the right to purchase such land without the consent of the original owner. The amendment also provides for the possible reopening of judgments returning their enterprises to victims of Nazi oppression, if such enterprises were found to have been indebted at the time of the original deprivation.
"The Department of State has informed the Austrian Ambassador in Washington that it is greatly disturbed to have received reports on the above legislation when restitution and general claims problems of victims of Nazism still have not been satisfactorily resolved by the Austrian Government, and that it is equally concerned about the action to amend the Third Restitution Law to the detriment of victims of National Socialism. Similar representations were made to the Austrian Government in Vienna.
"The Department of State is of the opinion that two further laws, passed by the Austrian Parliament on July 18 granting compensation to civil servants, resident in Austria, for loss of salary and other losses suffered by them during the Anschluss, and granting compensation generally to victims of Nazi oppression who reside in Austria, do not adequately meet the request, frequently expressed by the Government of the U. S. to the Government of Austria not to discriminate against such victims on the basis of their present residence or citizenship.
"The Acting United States High Commissioner in Vienna who is the United States representative on the Allied Council, which is the body to which the above legislation will be submitted for consideration, has been informed of the views of the Department," the statement concluded.
SOVIET RUSSIA "DEPLORES" U.S. STAND ON AUSTRIAN LAWS
Information reaching Washington today brought out the fact that while the State Department has made it clear to the Austrian Government that the U.S. is against Austria’s pro-Nazi laws which affect Jewish victims on Nazism, the Soviet authorities have taken quite a different stand on the matter.
The Soviet Union, like the United States, is represented on the Allied Council in Vienna and its representative there–like the American representative — has the right to veto any legislation passed by the Austrian Parliament. However, a State Department spokesman revealed at a press conference here today that Moscow feels that it is "deplorable" for the United States to meddle in internal Austrian affairs.
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