The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, meeting here today, appealed by formal resolution, directly to the Government and Parliament of the West German Federal Republic, to redress injustices to victims of Nazi persecution, and to speed up the enactment of basic amendments to the German indemnification law “which are long overdue. ” The resolution expressed the hope that the German Government would bring to the closing chapter of the indemnification program” the same degree of understanding it showed in making the Luxembourg Agreement and in enacting the original legislation for indemnification.”
The step was taken at the opening session of a two-day meeting, attended by more than 40 Jewish leaders from North and South America, Europe, Israel, Australia and South Africa. They represented 23 national and worldwide Jewish member organizations of the Claims Conference, and they will decide tomorrow on the allocation of $10, 000, 000 scheduled to be received this year.
Dr. Nahum Goldmann, president of the Claims Conference, reported to the board on the outcome of discussions held by him at Bonn last week with German Chancellor Adenauer and with Federal Finance Minister Rolf Dahlgruen. Dr. Goldmann voiced deep distress at “the protracted delays in framing the necessary legislation, ” although he acknowledged that certain objective factors have played a limited role in the delays. He pointed out that the wrongs for which indemnification payments are made arose under the Nazi regime, which came to power 30 years ago.
Nazi victims, in the scores of thousands, who have already waited decades for compensation, have grown deeply embittered, said Dr. Goldmann, while thousands of others have died over the course of years without receiving a penny in compensation. He expressed the hope that the proposed draft legislation will be completed in the course of the next month, so that it could serve as a basis for early discussion and negotiation.
OVER 600, 000 CLAIMS STILL PENDING; GOLDMANN URGES NEW APPROACH
Over 600, 000 claims for indemnification were still pending on December 31, 1962, the date on which adjudications under the Federal indemnification law were scheduled to be completed, Dr. Goldmann said. The basic amendments for which the Conference was
Dr. Goldmann singled out two groups whose claims were particularly meritorious: claimants for damage to health, and the so-called post-1953 group. Over 100,000 claims in the first category were still awaiting adjudication at the close of 1962. A new approach is needed “so as to deal justly with the claims of Nazi victims who have suffered injuries to health from the effects of imprisonment, mistreatment and torture,” Dr. Goldmann said.
“No group is more deserving among those currently excluded, ” Dr. Goldmann, said, “than Nazi victims who were not able to leave eastern Europe before October 1, 1953. ” The law, which entered into effect on that date, excluded from eligibility Nazi victims who left the country of their origin subsequently. Some 20, 000 Nazi victims fled to central and western Europe in 1956-57, in the wake of the Hungarian uprising, and many thousands of others came from eastern Europe in subsequent years. “Their moral claims for indemnification are just as strong as those of claimants who were eligible to file under the Law,” Dr. Goldmann said.
Dr. Goldmann expressed gratification that deliveries of goods, materials and services, under the terms of the Bonn-Israel reparations pact of 1952, to which the Conference is a party, have moved at a pace so swift that nearly 90 percent of the deliveries have already reached Israel. In all, over $741, 000, 000 in capital goods, materials and services were delivered to Israel from Germany since payments started on June 30, 1953. Of that sum, $67,500,000 in goods and services were provided in 1962. “The German authorities have been carrying out the terms of the pact, in letter and in spirit, from the first to the very last, ” Dr, Goldmann said.
CONFERENCE FUNDS HELP REBUILD JEWISH COMMUNITIES, LEAVITT REPORTS
The Conference distributed $10, 092,885 in 1962, bringing the total spent since allocations began in 1954 to some $90, 000, 000, it was reported by Moses A. Leavitt, treasurer of the Claims Conference. Of the 1962 allocations, $7,836, 000 went for the relief and rehabilitation of 170, 000 needy Nazi victims, $1,871, 000 for cultural and educational reconstruction, and $385, 000 for other purposes.
Mr. Leavitt pointed to the program for the rebuilding of Jewish communities which suffered at Nazi hands as one which ranked high among Conference objectives. Allocations of $9, 500, 000 have been granted over the years for the construction, expansion, equipment and repair of hundreds of institutions serving the needs of Nazi victims; homes for the aged, children’s and youth homes, hospitals and clinics, Jewish schools and seminaries, community and youth centers, religious institutions, summer camps and the like. The great bulk was concentrated in 15 European countries, while a limited share went to overseas lands sheltering many Nazi victims. A substantial number of projects were completed in 1962.
Mr. Leavitt drew attention to the influx of 120, 000 refugees into France in 1962, and in that context disclosed that over 90 capital projects in France received Conference aid, over the years. The projects included 25 Jewish schools, 24 community and youth centers, 18 children’s and youth homes and youth hostels, six homes for the aged, seven summer camps, and 12 other undertakings including religious institutions, kindergartens, canteens, clinics and dispensaries.
Mr. Leavitt described the Conference program for scholarships and fellowships. About 1,550 grants have been issued so far, 156 of them in 1962. The scholarship grants go to students attending Jewish teacher’s colleges and to those specializing in Jewish studies, and fellowship grants to scholars conducting independent research in Jewish studies, arts and literature.
Mr. Leavitt pointed out that, since 1956, not a single year in Jewish life in Europe has passed without upheavals, displacements and refugee migrations. But the high-water mark in Jewish displacement was attained in 1962. He expressed gratification that Conference aid in that year helped to meet pressing needs of Jewish refugees “in the scores and scores of thousands, ” as well as to participate in the rebuilding of the Jewish communities.
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.
