UNRRA has decided to grant Displaced Persons status and special aid to all Austrians who, as victims of the Nazi regime, were placed in concentration camps, according to a cable received here from Hans Geiger, a Washington, D.C. attorney who has been representing former concentration camp inmates.
Under the ruling, several thousand former prisoners, among them 2,000 Jews, will be benefited. The new ration for this class is expected to be increased to between 2,000 and 3,000 calories. According to information available here, the central office of UNRRA in Washington has already instructed its London headquarters to begin these supplementary deliveries of food.
In addition, under a new Austrian relief law soon to be presented to Parliament, Austrians who were persecuted for their racial origins will be included in state grants-in-aid which will probably amount to 150 schillings ($15.00) a month, provided they have no other income. They are also to be granted special advantages, under the proposed legislation, in the way of applying for licenses to establish businesses.
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