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Vol. XI No. 7 JULY, 1956 INFORMATION ISSUED BY THE ASSOCIATION OF JEWISH REFUGEES IN GREAT BRITAIN 8 FAIRFAX MANSIONS. Office ond Consulting Hours: FINCHLEY ROAD (Corner Ftirfix Rotd). Monday to Thursday 10 a.m.— I p.m. 3—6 p.m. LONDON. N.W.3 Friday 10 a.m.— I p.m. Telephone: MAIda Vale 9096/7 (General Office) MAIda Vale 44^9 (Employment Agency and Social Services Dept.) always been in the happy position of giving. Only JEWS FROM GERMANY & HEIRLESS PROPERTY in the most miserable period of their history did they have to tum to their brethren abroad for assistance, which was given with an open hand. A LETTER . Committee, fully met. This should, I think, It was a moral obligation incumbent on the Ger­ dispose of the suggestion that the CBF uses its man Jews who survived the Nazi catastrophe, to /// our .April issue we expressed our disappoint- share of the JTC funds for its own purposes and repay this debt, and part of the communal pro­ litem at the refusal by the Jewish Trust Corporation without regard to the needs of former German perty built up by many generations of German UTC) oj an application of the " Council of lews Jews. Jews, together with the unclaimed and heirless from Germany " for an increase from 10 per cent to There is another matter which should be men­ property, should serve this purpose. That the 12i per cent of its share in the heirless, unclaimed, tioned in Ihis connection. Jewish needs are very funds should also be used to alleviate the plight of and communal property in the former British Zone great and pressing, and the funds allotted by the Jewish Nazi victims from countries other than of Germany. JTC to the Jewish Agency and the AJDC are Germany was and is the declared view of the We have now received the followirtg letter from spent as soon as they are received. The funds Council. Sir Henry d'Avigdor Goldsmid, Bart., M.P., Chair­ allotted to the CBF have been fully budgeted for 2. From the foregoing, it is evident that the man of the JTC : in its building and relief plans for refugees, arrived Council has always gratefully recognised the at in co-operation with the AJR. On the other assistance given to German Jewry before their The Editor. hand, the Leo Baeck Charitable Trust—the body emigration and after. This applies particularly to AJR Information, receiving the allocations of the Council of Jews the Central British Fund for Jewish Relief and London, N.W.3. from Germany—still has available for distribution Rehabilitation in this country, to whom the Council Dear Sir, approximately 1,600,000 DM. out of a total allo­ and the AJR have paid tribute on more than one My attention has been drawn to the leading cation so far of 2,333,000 DM., i.e. more than occasion. two-thirds is as yet unspent. The Leo Baeck Trust article in your April issue entitled " An Our criticism was not directed against the Unanswerable Case—Dismissed," which deals with can expect a further sum of L.'^OO.OOO DM. in the near future from the JTC. apart from considerable Central British Fund and the use it makes of the the allocation of funds arising from German funds accruing lo it from the JTC for welfare restitution in the former British Zone of Germany. sums which will accrue in the next few months from JRSO. purposes in the United Kingdom. The points I hope I shall not be thought to be trespassing on thereanent raised by Sir Henry have never been your readers' patience if I attempt to correct some These figures speak for themselves: in the light contested and we cannot understand why he of the misapprehensions to which this article is, of them, an increase in the allocation of the thinks it necessary to dispose of an alleged sug­ in my opinion, likely to have given rise. Council of Jews from Germany at the expense of gestion " that the CBF uses its share of the JTC All those acquainted with the position eight or other organisations, who have already spent up to funds for its own purposes" ; such a suggestion nine years ago wjll remember that it was the the hilt, is quite unjustifiable, and T am grateful has never been made by us. Jewish Agency and the American Joint Distribu­ to you for giving me space to indicate lo your readers some of the considerations which influenced What we did and still do regret, is that some tion Committee who combined to form the Jewish representatives of the Central British Fund who, Restitution Successor Organisation to deal with the Council of the Jewish Trust Corporation in their decision. in general, show so much understanding of the heirless and unclaimed property in the American needs of refugees from Germany, did not support Zone and. later on, under the leadership of the Yours faithfully. the Council's claim for an increased share in the Central British Fund, formed the Jewish Trust H. D'AVIGDOR GOLDSMID. heirless property—a claim which one CBF repre­ Corporation to deal with the British Zone of sentative called " an unanswerable case." The Germany. Chairman, Jewish Trust Corporation. increase was needed to assist the large number of In these matters the Council of Jews from Woburn House, German Jews residing outside the United Kingdom. Germany played only a very minor part, for the London. W.C.l. 3. It is correct that the Leo Baeck Charitabli! pood reason thai they had no funds available to June I, I9.S6. Trust (the financing body of the Council of .Tews nieet the considerable expenditure involved. from Gennany) has not immediately used up the Moreover, legislation recognised the fact that, .so total amount so far received from the JTC. li fiendishly thorough had been Hitler's work, thai . AND A REPLY would have acted frivolously had it done so. These no .single group of Jews within Germany or out­ funds present the last opportunity for the Council side of it could justifiably be described as the Without wishing to enter into detailed comments of Jews from Germany to render assistance to tlieir successor to the heirless and unclaimed property we feel we have to state the following facts : needy brethren. Whilst this source will have ceased in Germany. Had this not been so, the nece,ssily 1. It is quite true that owing to the expropriation within a comparatively short period, the need for for the establishment of the successor organisations of the German Jews by the Nazi regime, their assistance will continue for a long time to come. Would not have arisen. organisation, the Council of Jews from Germany, The Council has therefore to embark on a long- The assumption made in the second paragraph did not have the means to establish a successor term financial policy and has t.T budget ahead, in of the article that the Council of Jews from organisation for the heirless, unclnimed nd com­ fhe same way as the CBF does not spend its con­ Germany has made some concession or suffered a munal Jewish property in Germany. Wliilst siderably larger total allocation now but, quite derogation of its legal rights in allowing the according to the restitution laws the successor rightly, keeps substantial reserves for needs which, establishment of the successor organisations is organisations are entitled to the restitution of that inevitably, will ari,se in the future, especially therefore quite unjustified. property the buildine up of a leoal machinery for the maintenance of fhe homes for the aged. It might be added that the United Restitution does not entitle the financing party to the benefit The Council's policy does not indicate a lack of Organisation also owed its creation to the CBF, of the claims as such. The Council has always need but. on the contrary, shows a responsibility which was the first body to provide the financial regarded the successor organisations as trustees of towards the future. pieans for the establishment of URO and for the the assets and not as heirs, and we do not doubt We hone that the friendly relations which have i.nitial research work in Germany, and was later that the organisations themselves share this existed throughout the years between fhe Council loined by the AJDC and the Jewish Agency, in opinion. of Jews from Germany and the leading Jewish 'he financing of URO operations. We also maintain that the Jews within Germany welfare organisations will eventually lead to a As to the spending of the funds allocated by the and outside comprising altogether 270,000 people recognition of our " unanswerable case." JTC, a casual reader would hardly gather that the can justifiablv be described as the successors to the ponies allocated to the CBF are spent exclusively property. The British authorities, for example, 'Or refugees in this country, the great majority of acknowledged the position of the Council of Jews GERMAN INDEMNIFICATION LAW whom are refugees from Germany and Austria. from Germanv at a time when the JTC was no' Nor would such a reader think that the running even formed. They negotiated with the Council as The new Federal German Indemnification of the Old Age Homes programme (except for the proper organisation about the details of the I.aw has been passed. Accountancy) has deliberately been left to the impending legislation and gave facilities to one of Details on pas^e 4. •association of Jewish Refugees, and that nearly its Vice-Chairmen to go to Germany in order to ijl members of the Pre-Selection and House discuss there the preparatory work with the Committees are their nominees.

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