The World Jewish Congress has urged Lt. Gen. Geoffrey Keyes, U.S. commander in Austria, to withhold approval of a pending bill in the Austrian parliament which would grant amnesty to thousands of former Nazis, including some groups of SS personnel, from all consequences of the denazification law, it was revealed today by the Congress. The bill cannot become law without the consent of the Allied Commission.
The request was made in a letter, signed by Dr. Robert S. Marcus, political director of the W.J.C., who declared that the proposed blanket amnesty for SS groups and their reinstatement to full rights of Austrian citizenship was “contrary to the Judgment of the International Military Tribunal in the case of Goering et al.”
The W.J.C. also warned that the restoration of full political rights for these Nazi groups would result in the strengthening of the undemocratic elements in Austrian life, a result contrary to the expressed aims of the Allied Commission in the agreement of June 28, 1946.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
