The United Restitution Organization (URO) was established in 1948 as a legal aid service to assist victims of
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
persecution living outside
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
in making restitution and indemnification claims against Germany and
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
. The URO has served over 250,000 clients.
It helped
Jews
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
,
Roma
Roma or ROMA may refer to:
Places Australia
* Roma, Queensland, a town
** Roma Airport
** Roma Courthouse
** Electoral district of Roma, defunct
** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council
*Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...
, and other victims of Nazi crimes. At its most expansive, the URO maintained 29 offices in 15 countries around the world.
["United Restitution Organization." Encyclopedic Dictionary of Judaica. Wigoder, Geoffrey, ed. New York; Paris: Leon Amiel, 1974. p. 609.] British barrister
Norman Bentwich
Norman de Mattos Bentwich (28 February 1883 – 8 April 1971) was a British barrister and legal academic. He was the British-appointed attorney-general of Mandatory Palestine and a lifelong Zionist.
Biography Early life
Norman Bentwich was th ...
was the chairman of the URO board from 1948 until his death in 1971, and
Kurt May Kurt May (1896–1992) was director of the United Restitution Organization, which assisted victims of Nazism, from its inception in 1948 to his retirement at age 91, in 1988.
For more than forty years he played a role in efforts to obtain compensat ...
, a German-born lawyer who had fled the Nazis in 1934 after he defended a leading Social Democrat wrongly accused of being a Communist, served as its director from the early 1950s until 1990.
References
External links
Guide to the United Restitution Organization New York Office Collectionat the Leo Baeck Institute, New York, NY.
*The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum also holds several collections related to the URO. They can be found via the USHM
Collections SearchUnited Restitution Organization miscellaneous recordsat the Hoover Institution Archives.
{{Authority control
Aftermath of the Holocaust
Organizations established in 1948
Jewish organisations based in the United Kingdom
Restitution
Holocaust charities and reparations