The Restitution Commission here has been reorganized into special departments for commercial enterprise, real estate and miscellaneous claims, it was announced today.
Latest available figures show that a total of 3,544 restitution claims have been filed with the commission since it was set up, with the monthly figure averaging ##. Only 342 cases–approximately one in ten–have been acted on, it was reported. Austrian officials assert that the lag in processing claims is due partly to a short-## of reliable fudges, office space and facilities for the Commission.
Restitution officials in the Soviet zone have been greatly hampered by the Russian attitude that all properties ever held by German organizations or occupation authorities are subject to reparations as German assets. Very few Jews who wore deprived of their property by the Nazis expect to retrieve their property if the Russians persist in this view.
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.
