A “mysteriously organized” mob of 600 people this week prevented a Paris Jew from recovering his apartment which was being illegally occupied by a person who had obtained it during the occupation, it was revealed here today. The owner of the apartment had obtained a court order dispossessing the present occupant and was accompanied by police officials who were powerless to disperse the nob.
The incident was disclosed by Julliette Jonvaux of the Movement Against Naciss, addressing a meeting attended by 3,000 persons, called by a joint comittee of various anti-(##)cist and Jewish organizations to hear a report on the present status of the restitution problem. Mme. Jonvaux cited the above case as an example of the anti-Senitic activities still going on in France.
Yves Montol, a well known Paris lawyer, who spoke as a representative of the National Association of Victims of Germany and Vichy, analysed the new law for restitution of Jewish property adopted by the Consultative Assembly on Friday, Although the measure is inadequate, he said, it is a great improvement on the draft presented to the Assembly by the government, particularly because it provides for speedy legal procedure. M. Montel charged Minister of Justice Francois de Menthon with delaying and obstructing restitution measures. The League Against Anti-Semitisn, he declared, was ready to enforce the expulsion of all illegal tenants of Jewish apartments.
Albert Bayet, noted resistance leader, who is president of the Federation of the French Press, protested sharply against the government’s failure to fulfill its premises on return of confiscated property. He opposed any proposal, such as that made by the government, to differentiate between so called bonafide buyers of confiscated Anish property and illegal purchasers. “A father of four children is nevertheless a socundrel if he bought Jewish property,” M. Bayet said.
Bernard Le Cache, president of the League Against Anti-Semitism, stressed the unfavorable impression which has been created in America and England by the delay in settlement of the restitution problem. “Jews,” he stated, “should have burned down the homes of those who stole their property, but they wished to remain lawful and disciplined.” He urged that “for the sake of France and justice” the pre-war antiracist law be revived.
Other speakers included representatives of the Communist and Socialist parties, the General Jewish Defonso Committee and the Federation of Former Internees.
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.
