British Jews Express Concern over German Indemnification Delay

The British Section of the World Jewish Congress, in a resolution last night, expressed concern over the long delay by Germany in implementation of individual indemnification legislation for victims of Nazism. The resolution was adopted at the closing session of the organization’s ninth biennial convention.

The resolution welcomed long overdue amendments of the Federal Indemnification Law, currently before the Bonn Parliament, but “viewed with dismay” certain curtailment of benefits contained in the amendment legislation, and appealed to the World Jewish Congress, Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, and the Bonn Parliament to assert the rights of victims who would suffer as a result of such benefit curtailments.

In a resolution on the growth of neo-Nazism in Germany, the convention warned democratic elements in West Germany not to “slacken” in their vigilance against the reappearance of militarism and chauvinism “which would inevitably become another breeding ground of anti-Semitism and which threatens to jeopardize the growth of a truly democratic Germany.”

Other resolutions applauded the organization’s activities in the field of Yiddish culture, and urged the expansion of such work. They also urged that the contributions of immigrants from Eastern and Central Europe and of the Zionist movement to ward the development of British Jewry be acknowledged fully in the forthcoming tercentenary celebrations. Lady Reading was re-elected president of the British Section and Jacob Halevy was renamed its chairman.