The Hesse association of Germans who are legally obligated to make restitution of Jewish property which had been stolen by the Nazi regime and sold to members of the group today demanded that the West German Government make an official declaration of the nature of the reparations and compensation to be made to Israel and the total of these payments.
The Hesse group’s statement criticized the American zonal restitution law as one which has not made good the wrongs inflicted on the Jews, but has often created new wrongs by placing the “burden of the state’s debt on those who purchased Jewish property.” The statement scored the government for failing to acknowledge its “principal obligation and basic responsibility” for the material and other damages wrought on the Jews by the Nazis. It also asked whether the West German Government wished to make reparations for damages suffered by Jews in territory which now constitutes the Soviet zone of occupation and in other territories which once belonged to Germany.
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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.
