U.S. Jewish Leaders Meet with Austrian Cabinet Members on Claims

A delegation representing 22 world and national Jewish organizations conferred here today with Austria’s Foreign Minister Dr. Leopold Figl and Finance Minister Dr. Reinhold Kamitz to press restitution claims for about 90, 000 surviving Austrian Jewish victims of Nazism. About ten percent remain in Austria while the rest are scattered throughout the world. The eight-man delegation represented the Committee for Jewish Claims on Austria which deals with Austrian restitution and compensation.

In a statement concerning the negotiations, the delegation said it was urging the Austrian Government to fulfill speedily and effectively its obligatic is to Nazi victims undertaken in the 1955 State Treaty between Austria and the former occupying powers–U.S., Great Britain, France and the Soviet Union. The Jewish leaders emphasized that “thousands of Jewish victims of Nazi persecution, particularly those who were driven out of Austria 20 years ago still await some measure of compensation for the losses they suffered. ” They stressed that many of the victims were now aged and in dire financial circumstances.

Legislation so far enacted by Austria, the delegation contended, “provides only limited restitution of traceable property and a very modest compensation for imprisonment and personal injury.” The delegation recalled that in the more than two years that have elapsed since the signing of the State Treaty, the Austrian Government has failed to take measures to meet the commitments undertaken in the Treaty to return all property and restore all rights and interests which were subject to confiscation as a result of Nazi measures. This was to apply unless Austria could prove that return or restoration was impossible.

The eight leaders were: Jacob Blaustein, honorary president of the American Jewish Committee; Frank Goldman, honorary president of B’nai B’rith; Dr. Israel Goldstein, president of the American Jewish Congress; Adolph Held, chairman of the American Jewish Labor Committee; Barnett Janner. M. P., president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews; Dr. Gustav Jellinek, president of the American Federation of Jews from Austria; Dr. Nehemiah Robinson, legal counsel to the World Jewish Congress; and Seymour J. Rubin, Foreign Affairs Counsel of the American Jewish Committee.