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Extension Asked in German
Restitution Law to Provide
for. 900, 00 Pending Claims

5 Judges Hear Eiehmann Plea:

Dr. Robert Serva-
tius (right) is shown here addressing the five judges of the Israel Supreme Court in
his appeal against the death sentence for Adolf Eichmann, who is seen seated in the
glass enclosed booth at the left. Chief Justice Yitzhak Olshan, who presided at the
hearings on the appeal, is flanked by Justices Shimon Agranat, Moshe Silberg, Yoel
Sussman and Dr. A. Witkon.
Report of Jerusalem court hearings on Page 40.

COPENHAGEN, (JTA)--Imrnediate action by the
West German Government in extending the restitution
law in order to assure prompt handling of the remain-
ing 900,000 claims for individual restitution still pend-
ing was demanded by Dr. Nahum Goldmann, chairman
of the Conference of Jewish Material Claims Against
Germany, at the annual meeting of the board of di-
rectors of the Claims Conference.
Addressing the opening session. Dr. Goldmann
said that such a law also was needed to extend the
benefits of existing West German law to other victims
of Nazi persecution, especially those who have recently
come from Iron Curtain countries. He emphasized that
the need for immediate action was imperative because
the present Federal indemnification law was scheduled
to expire Dec. 31.
Dr. Goldmann pointed out that many Jews are en-
titled to compensation although they are not at present
covered by the German law, which set October 1953. as
a cut-off date, for compensation under the present Ger-
man law. The law also fixed Oct. 1, 1953 as the cut-off
date for stateless persons.
Those now ineligible under the German law, said
Dr. Goldmann, include thousands of Jewish victims
of Nazism who fled Hungary after the 1956 uprising
in that country.
He emphasized that payment of these claims was
entirely separate from the money received by the
Claims Conference for global distribution to needy
Jews. The Claims Conference is to receive from the
West German Government under the restitution agree-
ment $107,000,000, he reported. The Claims Conference
is recognized by the West German Government as the
official spokesman for the Jews throughout the world
who are entitled to invididual restitution under laws
drawn up by the Federal Government and various West
German states.
Continued on Page 7

World Jewish Congress Study Shows Nazis
Despoiled European Jewry of 27 Billion Dollars

European Jewry was despoiled by
the Nazis of about $27 billion—at
values then applicable—in property,
assets and income, according to a
study made by the World Jewish Con-
gress in New York. The value of
restituted property, and payments in
reparations, restitution and compensa-
tion. principally by West Germany, is
about $6 billion, whereas the actual
value of the despoiled property today
would be 60 to 80 per cent higher than
the estimated S27 billion.
The figures for damages suffered by
the Jews are contained in a new pam-
phlet, "Spoliation and Remedial Ac-
tion," that has just been issued in
Yolk by Dr. Nehemiah Robinson, di-
rector of the World Jewish Congress'
Institute of Jewish Affairs.
The main targets of Nazi and Fascist
spoliation were the available assets—
real estate, businesses, valuables, furni-
ture, money—mostly by direct confisca-
tion or by forced sale. The Nazis were
not satisfied, Robinson notes, with
Jewish assets in the respective coun-
tries, and they forced many Jews to

transfer foreign holdings to them.

There were other means of spolia-
tion such as huge taxes imposed on en-
tire communities: the Jewish levy and
emigration tax in Germany, and a
billion franc tax on the Jewish com-
munity of France, just to mention a
few; ransom—vast sums, sometimes as
much as a-million dollars, to allow cer-
tain families or groups to escape.

Even when the Jews arrived at the
concentration camps they were plun-
dered.
"Nothing was too small for them
(the Nazis), not even the hair of the
victims," Robinson notes, adding that
gold bridges and filling from victims'
teeth provided 17 tons of gold for the
Nazis.
"Even deportations and killings be-
came a source of income for the Nazis,"
the pamphlet states. "The Germans
were paid large amounts for deporting
Hungarian Jews. Cases are known
where the Jewish community was
forced to pay the Germans the value
of the bullets used to kill part of the

community or for the urns containing
the ashes of deported and gassed
leaders."
Robinson. who is the World Jewish
Congress' expert on the Nazi era, puts
Jewish losses in property and other
identifiable assets at about $12 billion.
according to values at that time.
But there was also a considerable
loss in income. There is little detail
available as to the value of lost earn-
ings of Jews but, after a study of all •
available information and statistics, Dr.
Robinson states that "the amount of
lost income may be estimated at be-
tween $10 and $15 billion," at prices
of that time.

Remedial action to offset Jewish
losses fell into four categories: general
indemnification; restitution; compensa-
tion for losses; reinstatement, princi-
pally to positions previously held. Iii
all, Robinson estimates that restitution
and compensation to the extent of
about $6 billion have been paid or
are being paid, principally by West
Germany, in reparations, restitution

and compensation to the victims of
Nazism.

Individual compensation claims filed
by Dec. 31, 1961, in West Germany
totalled 3,071,662 and in 2,200,000
cases which have been adjudicated by
the administrative authorities, West
Germany has paid, under the various
laws, about three-and-a-half billion
dollars in compensation. The total
amount paid in restitution and repara-
tions as distinct from compensation is
about two-and-a-half billions dollars,
giving a total of $6 billion for the
spoliation that took place.
Dr.- Robinson's survey is part of a
book, "The Institute Anniversary Vol-
ume," due to be published shortly. The
survey was issued as a special pamphlet
in connection with a gathering of
Jewish leaders in Copenhagen last
weekend attending a session of the
administrative committee of the World
Jewish Congress, a board meeting of
the Conference on Jewish Material
Claims Against Germany, and a meet-
ing of the Conference of Jewish Or-
ganizations.

