Benjamin B. Ferencz, a member of the New York bar who was in charge of German operations for the largest international Jewish organizations concerned with reparations, restitution and indemnification, returned to the United States this week after more than ten years of service overseas.
He served as director-general of the Jewish Restitution Successor Organizations, supervising the recovery of all heirless Jewish property in the United States Zone in West Berlin. The proceeds derived from this property are made available mainly to the Jewish Agency and the Joint Distribution Committee. The new head of the JRSO is Dr. Ernst Katzenstein, a JRSO staff member of long standing who was a German jurist and is now an Israeli citizen.
Mr. Ferencz has also been director for Germany of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims ever since the position was established in 1953. His successor is Dr. Herbert, S. Schoenfeldt, and American citizen and former Berlin lawyer who previously represented the Claims Conference in Bonn. Mr. Ferencz was director of operations of the United Restitution Organization, which assists in securing indemnification payments for Jewish victims of Nazism unable to retain private counsel, for the past two years. He will be succeeded by Dr. Kurt May, a German-born Israeli attorney.
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