Speech #810272620

To pass this matter over lightly. is the way we would expect the Soviets to act in a similar situation. but not the United States. There is a moral issue here. which cannot be dismissed by a technicality. One hundred and twenty thousand dollars represents the sole hope of salvation for more than 100 refugees. which we are taking from them. thoughtlessly up to this moment. but deliberately if we fail to refund this commission we have charged on a humanitarian endeavor. At the Paris Conference on Reparation. to which we were a party. the sale of nonmonetary gold found by the Allied armed forces in Germany to provide relief funds was approved by the signors to that instrument. A further sum. not to exceed $25.000.000. was allocated for the same purpose. said sum to be raised from a portion of the proceeds of German assets in neutral countries which are available for reparation. Furthermore. the governments of neutral countries were requested to make available for rehabilitation and resettlement those assets.i such countries belonging to victims of Nazi aggression who have since died and left no heirs. In order to concentrate aid on the most needy and deserving refugees. it was decided to limit such aid to those who were vicitms of Nazi concentration camps. but not including those persons confined in prisonerofwar camps. In the FivePower Agreement of June 14. 1946. it was decided that assets becoming available should be used not for the compensation of individual victims. but solely for rehabilitation and resettlement. All available evidence indicates beyond any doubt that the overwhelming majority of eligible persons under the provisions of article 8 are Jewish. since they were the principal targets of Nazi hate and terror. Eligible nonJewish victims of the Nazi extermination policy are refugees from Germany and Austria who can demonstrate that they were persecuted by the Nazis for religious. political. or racial reasons. This latter category also includes German and Austrian nationals. similarly persecured. whose only hope of mending their broken lives. is in emigration to new environments. In all cases. loyalty to the United Nations is required. as a further test of eligibility. The conclusion that 95 percent of the heirless funds made available should be set aside to take care of the Jewish victims. recognizes the fact that these funds are overwhelmingly Jewish in origin.