Chancellor Kiesinger assured Dr. Nahum Goldmann, president of the World Jewish Congress, during a conference here this weekend, that his government will do everything possible to combat the influence and growth of the neo-Nazi National Democratic Party and all other “enemies of democracy in Germany.”
This will be done, the Chancellor said, by stabilization of the West German economic situation. A statement issued by the Government declared that the Jewish leader had called the Chancellor’s attention to “the unrest and concern caused in Jewish and non-Jewish circles over a possible revival of nationalist currents in Germany.”
Reporting on his meetings with governmental leaders during the weekend, Dr. Goldmann said he had also been assured by Franz Joseph Strauss, Minister of Finance, that none of the indemnification and restitution payments due in 1967 to victims of Nazism — most of them Jewish — will be curtailed, despite the difficult financial situation facing the Government.
“If this promise is implemented,” said Dr. Goldmann, “the full sum of 1,900,000,000 marks ($475,000,000) for indemnifications payments, and 300,000,000 marks ($75,000,000) for restitution cases will be available and paid in the next year.”
During his two day visit, Dr. Goldmann met with a number of other German leaders, including Eugen Gerstenmaier, president of the Bundestag, lower house of Parliament; Vice-Chancellor and Foreign Minister Willy Brandt, and former Chancellors Konrad Adenauer and Ludwig Erhard. Dr. Goldmann said he will return here at the end of next month to continue to discuss indemnification issues with Mr. Strauss.
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.
