Acting United States Commissioner Walter Dowling today told a delegation of the League of Independents, a neo-Nazi group, that the U.S. Government does not object to Austrian amnesty measures for Nazis as such, but insists that priority must be given to victims of Nazism.
The delegation, composed of members of the Austrian Parliament, argued strongly before Mr. Dowling in favor of the pro-Nazi amnesty laws passed recently by the parliament to the detriment of Jewish victims of Nazism. But the American official reiterated that while the U.S. has nothing against amnesty, compensation must first be paid to Nazi victims.
The delegation later visited the Legal Division of the U.S. Mission in Austria and presented its arguments in favor of the pro-Nazi amnesty laws. However, the head of the Legal Division drew attention of the delegation to the fact that there are a number of unsettled problems in the present restitution laws in Austria and emphasized that victims of Nazism should be compensated before redress is given to Nazis.
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