The crucially important amendment to the Federal Indemnification Law, promised and awaited for almost two years, had not even been introduced in the Bundestag when that body adjourned for its summer recess. It will not reconvene before the end of September.
The amendment is designed to correct some of the most glaring inadequacies and inequities of the 1953 law. When a special “working group” was formed a year ago to formulate the details of the amendment, it was expected that the legislative draft would be completed by the end of 1954. Later, the deadline was extended several times.
Federal Minister of Finance Fritz Schaeffer has declared, however, that work on the amendment will be continued during the summer recess, so that a bill incorporating it can be introduced when the Bundestag reconvenes in the fall. He has already consulted with the State Ministers of Finance about the additional financial outlay involved which, in the opinion of experts, will amount to hundreds of millions of dollars over the years.
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.
