THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
14 Friday, July 11, 1975
Congress Committees Approve Favored Status for Romania
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WASHINGTON (JTA)-
The Senate Finance Com-
mittee unanimously ap-
proved Wednesday Presi-
dent Ford's request for most
favored nation trade treat-
ment of Romania. It was
followed by a 14-2 vote by a
House trade subcommittee
in favor of most favored na-
tion status for Romania.
Most favored nation sta-
tus will allow Romania tar-
iff rates 50 percent below
those levied on other corn-
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munist countries except
Poland and Yugolsavia.
The Senate and• House
actions followed informa-
tion provided by govern-
ment officials that Romania
has eased its emigration
restrictions on Jews and
others. Under the terms of
the Jackson-Vanik amend-
ment incorporated into the
1974 trade reform act U.S.
trade benefits to communist
countries are contingent on
their emigration practices.
Both the full Senate and
the House must approve a
normal trade policy with
Romania before the reduced
tariffs become effective. The
Senate has until Sunday to
act.
Complaints from Jewish
groups, borne out by U.S.
officials, indicated that
Romania had tightened its
emigration policies this
year, reversing its past
relatively liberal policies.
In the first five months of
1975, fewer than 400 Jews
left Romania for Israel
compared to an average of
300 a month in 1974 ac-
cording to U.S. sources.
But information from
Bucharest this week indi-
cated that emigration was
once more on the rise. Ac-
cording to the State Depart-
ment, 237 Jews left for Is-
rael in June, bringing the
total for the first six months
of the year to 616. In addi-
tion, informants said. 303
were scheduled to leave in
July and Romania has ap-
proved exit visas for 2,000
Jews so far this year for Is-
rael and 954 applications by
Romanians who want to go
to the U.S.
A Romanian government
official has confirmed a
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Gliga told the American
group that in his view the
country's emigration policy
and official approval and
support of a multitude of
Jewish religious and cul-
tural institutions qualify it
for U.S. designation as a
most-favored-nation in for-
eign trade. Such status,
which lowers tariff barriers,
is being sought by Romania
to offset its balance of trade
deficit with this country.
Other Romanian govern-
ment officials also attrib-
uted the reduction of emi-
gration during the first five
months of this year to tech-
nicalities. Some blamed the
government's preoccupation
last fall with the Commun-
ist Party Congress and the
national elections for slow-
ing the bureaucratic ma-
chine.
United States representa-
tives in Romania told the
ADL group that in addition
to the slowdown in permit-
ting Romanian Jews to emi-
grate to Israel, exit permits
to go to the United States
have also fallen off. They
said it was difficult to ascer-
tain a precise reason but
speculated that it was due
"to some unknown domes+
situation - and not SovL.
pressure.
Epstein said it was
learned that while Romania
has open diplomatic and
trade relations with Israel
— it is also one of the most
outspoken supporters of the
Palestine Liberation Organ-
ization, which has an office
in Bucharest, and the Pales-
tinian movement for "self-
determination."
Romania, while not de-
pendent on Arab oil for
domestic energy, has be-
come a center for petro-
chemical processing and
needs Arab oil in order to
increase its industrial de-
velopment and • export ca-
pacity..
Rabbi Moses Rosen told
the group that during his 27
years as Romania's Chief
Rabbi he had been instru-
mental in the emigration of
the 350,000 Jews — approxi-
mately 80 percent of the to-
tal Jewish institutions in
Romania, he declared, are
evidence of the difference
between the treatment of
Romanian Jews and those in
the Soviet Union.
He cited such community
projects as a Talmud Torah,
a Jewish youth movement,
communal kosher kitchen
facilities, kosher meals-on-
wheels and housing facili-
ties for the elderly and in-
firm, dental and medical
clinics, a bi-weekly Romani-
an-Jewish-Hebrew newspa-
per, publication of Yiddish
books, and synagogues in 18
of the 70 officially-recog-
nized Jewish communities.
In addition, he said, Roman-
ian Jews have freedom of
contact with world Jewry.
W. German Government Urged
to Extradite Nazi War Criminal
ADRIAN
WARREN
drastic drop in Jewish emi-
gration so far this year, but
attributed it to "a technical
situation" and assured a vis-
iting Anti-Defamation
League of Bnai Brith dele-
gation that there has been
no change in his country's
policy.
Meeting with ADL lead-
ers in Bucharest. Vasile
Gliga, deputy minister of
foreign affairs, noted with
pride that some 350,000
Romanian Jews have been
permitted to emigrate to
Israel since the establish-
ment of the Jewish state
and said that the. recent
drop in numbers should not
be read as a change in Ro-
mania's liberal "reunifi-
cation of families" policy.
The League delegation,
led by Benjamin R, Epstein,
national director, and made
up of 33 individuals from 14
states and Canada, were in
Romania — the only Com-
munist bloc country that
maintains diplomatic and
trade relations with Israel
—for four days of meetings
with government and Jew-
ish community leaders.
VIENNA (JTA) — The
Austrian Jewish Students
Federation called on the
West German government
to take immediate steps for
the extradition of Nazi war
criminal Walter Kutsch-
mann who has been living in
Argentina since 1947 under
the alias of Pedro Ricardo
Olmo.
Kutschmann was ar-
rested in Buenos Aires after
his identity was exposed by
Simon Wiesenthal, head of
the Nazi war crimes docu-
mentation center in Vienna.
But he was released after
six hours and, according to
Wiesenthal, has gone under-
ground.
There was nd explanation
of why the Buenos Aires au-
thorities released him.
Wiesenthal provided
documents indicating
Kutschmann's responsi-
bility for the murder of 20
Jewish university profes-
sors and their families in
Lwow, Poland, on July 4,
1941, a crime previously
attributed to another for-
mer West German, Theo-
dor Oberlaender.
The Federation of Aus-
trian Resistance Fighters
held Oberlaender responsi- _
ble but the actual killing:
apparently were carried out
by Kutschmann, who was,
at the time, an SS officer
and leader of a Gestapo
unit.
According to the Students
Federation, Kutschmann
was also directly responsi-
ble for the murder of 2,000
other Jews in Lwow.
Aid to Delinquents
GENEVA
"I know of
many boys and girls who
were considered outside so-
ciety and were returned to
normal life by ORT educa-
tion and the personal atten-
tion given to them by our or-
ganization," said Mrs.
Magda Grossman, chairman
of Women's Israel ORT, in
calling upon more Israeli
women to take part in ORT
activities.
—