A plea for amendment of the West German Government’s decision to defer compensation for Nazi victims was made here today by Dr. Max Nussbaum, chairman of the American section of the World Jewish Congress, on the eve of a scheduled visit to Berlin.
Dr. Nussbaum, in a statement critical of the recent decision of the German Parliament to defer until 1968 indemnification payments to certain categories of Nazi victims, deplored the announced delay in a letter sent to the West German envoy to Washington, Ambassador Heinrich Knappstein. Noting that “budgetary requirements” was the basis for the German Parliament action, Dr. Nussbaum stated:
“The hapless remnants of Nazi victims may well conclude that Germany is consciously abandoning its former exemplary policy of attempting in some measure to compensate those who survived the Hitler holocaust.” Urging Ambassador Knappstein to convey the concern of the WJC American section to his Government, Dr. Nussbaum called for the initiation of immediate action to secure amendment of the German law so that due compensation “may be made without any delay at all.”
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