West German restitution was unpopular and minimally supported in parliament

Evidence

Only 106 of the 208 members of the governing coalition in the Bundestag voted for the restitution agreement between Israel and the Federal Republic of Germany in 1953. Even into the mid-1950s, Aryanizers' (those who had bought Jewish property) and members of the governing coalition in the federal and state parliaments were still up in arms against the reimbursement law enacted by the American military government in 1947, which declared that ascertainable property which had changed hands while its owners were under pressure of persecution was to be returned to its former owners in exchange for the selling price. (Aryanizers who had been forced to sell their property back to its owners, and who persisted in pursuing their claims, were themselves compensated at public expense in 1969 as victims of restitution’.61) Adorno’s hope that he would be able to obtain a professorship on the basis of an application by the Faculty of Philosophy for him to be appointed full professor, made purely on the grounds of his objective qualifications and unconnected with any restitution requirements, was not fulfilled. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 492

Categorization

• CANDY: Aryanizers who had to give property back were themselves compensated as ‘victims of restitution’ in 1969.
• ADDENDUM: Extends the “Complaints About Immodesty Go Way Back” theme of moral/status signaling under political pressure — here the postwar politics of who counts as a victim.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 492
• XREF: connects to: West Germany’s restitution agreements passed with only bare majority support and stayed unpopular — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 1998

Broader Connections

• West Germany’s restitution agreements passed with only bare majority support and stayed unpopular #corroborates (1.00) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1998