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E. Germany May Pay For
Land Seized By Nazis

JAY LECHTMAN

Special to The Jewish News

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12

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1990

s the Germanies darn
the disparate threads
of their 41-year dual
nationhood, one loose end
may at last be wrapped up —
East German restitution to
Jews for property abandoned
to or seized by the Nazis.
Survivors, refugees or
their heirs have less than a
month to register claims to
property seized within what
is now the German Dem-
ocratic Republic.
While a law has yet to be
passed that specifically
details who is entitled to
compensation for lost prop-
erty or how that compensa-
tion will be made, the State
Department and world Jew-
ish organizations are en-
couraging anyone who may
have a claim to file now.
In a joint declaration
issued June 15, the govern-
ments of East and West
Germany announced that
only property seized by the
German government after
the founding of the commu-
nist German Democratic
Republic in 1949 could be
compensated for.
However, according to
Saul Kagan, executive direc-
tor. of the Claims Con-
ference, that time period will
most likely be extended to
cover seizures during the
Nazi regime.
An amendment to the law,
which was to be voted on
Sept. 20, would apply the
compensation "to property
claims from individuals and
associations who between
January 30, 1933, and May
8, 1945, were persecuted for
reasons of race, political
conviction, religion or other
philosophical reasons, and
therefore lost their property
through forced sales, con-
fiscations or in some other
manner," Mr. Kagan said,
quoting from the amend-
ment.
Diplomatic represent-
atives of the German Dem-
ocratic Republic declined to
comment on the issue.
The U.S. government has
been seeking a lump-sum
settlement of between $250
million and $350 million
against East Germany since
1982, to be paid to some
2,500 U.S. citizens for
"property taken in the late

Jay Lechtman is a staff
reporter for our sister news-
paper, the Baltimore Jewish
Times.

1940s and early 1950s," said
David Bradley, chief counsel
of the Foreign Claims Set-
tlement Commission in
Washington, D.C.
While the government
"will continue to pursue a
settlement," the State
Department release said, the
East German claims pro-
cedure is "entirely separate
and different," Mr. Bradley
said.
The original deadline of
January 31, 1991, was mov-
ed up to October 13, accor-
ding to a department state-
ment, "in the interest of set-
tling property issues quick-
ly."
The deadline is considered
"unreasonable" by groups
representing Holocaust sur-
vivors, and they are seeking
an extension of the date.
"However, in order to
safeguard future rights, it is
important that such claims
be immediately registered,"

The deadline is
considered
"unreasonable" by
groups
representing
Holocaust
survivors.

said Rabbi Israel Miller,
president of the Conference
on Jewish Material Claims
Against Germany.
The Claims Conference is
a New York-based organiza-
tion that negotiates and
monitors German
repayments to victims of
Nazi persecution.
Claims must be submitted
in writing to the county ex-
ecutive or municipal
government's office of the
county or city where the
former resident last lived,
according to the GDR's July
11 Decree on the Declaration
of Property Claims.
If the claimant did not live
in the GDR, the claim must
be sent to the county or city
where the property is
located.
No formal application is
necessary, but the claim
must include information on
the type and location of the
property, and some proof
that the property belonged
to the claimant or a relative
of the person making the
claim.
"It won't be easy to estab-

Continued on Page 14

