Dr. Hendrik George Van Dam, a prominent lawyer and secretary general of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, died today at the age of 66. He had been admitted to a hospital here Feb. 9 suffering from a heart ailment. Messages of condolence have been received by his family from President Gustav Heinemann, Chancellor Willy Brandt, Bundestag president Annemarie Urenger and other government leaders.
Dr. Van Dam, who was born in Berlin, the son of an antiquarian in the court of Emperor Wilhelm II, studied law at Heidelberg and Berlin. The Nazi era cut short his career in Germany and he fled to England in 1940. He returned to West Germany shortly after World War II and helped rebuild the legal administration in Oldenburg. Dr. Van Dam was an expert on reparations law. He received the Federal Republic’s Order of Merit for his services toward effecting reconciliation between Jews and Germans and normalizing relations between West Germany and Israel. Dr. Van Dam was the publisher and editor-in-chief of the Allgemeine Juedische Wochenzeitung of Dussseldorf.
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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.
