New Compensation Deal for Holocaust Survivors
More than 16,000 Holocaust survivors who have been denied German compensation pensions will now be eligible to receive them as a result of Claims Conference negotiations with the German government. The agreement will result in at least €485 million (approximately $650 million) in additional Claims Conference payments over the next decade.
Prior to the negotiations, certain survivors were only eligible for pensions from the Claims Conference Article 2 Fund and the Central and Eastern European Fund (CEEF) if they had been in a ghetto, in hiding, or living under false identity for at least 18 months during the Nazi era. This minimum time period of persecution was part of the eligibility criteria established by the German government, and which the Claims Conference for years has been working to change.
As of January 1, 2012, the minimum time period for having lived under any of these conditions will be reduced to 12 months. The Claims Conference estimates that this change will make an additional 8,000 survivors eligible for pensions, who are estimated to receive a total of about €290 ($406) million over the next 10 years.
The Article 2 Fund makes monthly payments of €300 and the CEEF makes monthly payments of €260 to certain Holocaust survivors who meet all eligibility criteria, which encompass factors other than persecution history:
Please see:
Article 2 Fund Eligibility Criteria and CEEF Eligibility Criteria on the Claims Conference Website.
Further, as of January 1, 2012, those survivors age 75 and over who were in a ghetto for less than 12 months but a minimum of three months will be entitled to a special monthly pension of €240 if they live in the West or €200 if they live in the countries of the former Soviet bloc, if they meet the other eligibility criteria of the programs. This change should result in new payments for about 4,500 survivors in 2012, with a total of approximately €130 million to be paid over the next decade. Further, an additional 3,500 survivors will become eligible as they reach age 75 over the coming years, who the Claims Conference estimates will be paid a total of €65 million over the next decade. This liberalization will drastically change the compensation programs, especially for those who endured the Budapest Ghetto.
Historical photos of the Budapest Ghetto can be viewed at www.claimscon.org/budapestghetto.
These liberalizations will largely affect child survivors, whose special plight has been a primary focus of recent discussions between the Claims Conference and the German Ministry of Finance. The Claims Conference and the German government have agreed to establish a working group to review the special plight of child survivors, defined as those born in 1928 or later.
Together, the Article 2 Fund and CEEF have paid approximately $3.5 billion to more than 109,000 Holocaust survivors since 1995. Both programs were created as a result of intensive Claims Conference negotiations with the German government.
The Claims Conference meets regularly with German government officials to negotiate changes to these and other programs so that additional Holocaust victims may receive compensation payments. Negotiations focus on expanding the criteria for compensation programs, so that the experiences of more Holocaust victims are recognized, and on increasing payment amounts.
Robert Goot
The Claims Conference will continue to press other issues of concern in future negotiations with the German government.
The information here does not constitute a full and comprehensive description of the criteria of the Article 2 Fund or CEEF or of any amendments to this program. Eligibility criteria for Article 2 and CEEF payments are determined by the German government.
Sydney-based Robert Goot, a former president of The Executive Council of Australian Jewry, is a director of the Claims Conference. He told J-Wire: “This is a truly remarkable and historic result brought about following extensive negotiations by claims conference representatives”
Urgent – for the sake of the survivors: According to an AFP story today, the Claims Conference put out this (self congratulatory) story too early, and the Germans implied that this is not yet a done deal and the German finance ministry would not confirm, saying the Claims Conference had to recheck its numbers. (Which I personally thought that they have no way of knowing, especially regarding “children” who were hidden for 12 months.) This is the link to the German story, and a bit of it. The headline is “No Agreement about millions in aid for Holocaust victims”.
http://de.nachrichten.yahoo.com/keine-einigung-über-millionen-hilfen-für-holocaust-opfer-150112907.html
Keine Einigung über Millionen-Hilfen für Holocaust-Opfer
Jewish Claims Conference soll offenbar Zahlen prüfen
Die Bundesregierung ist Angaben der Jewish Claims Conference über weitere Millionenzahlungen an Holocaust-Opfer entgegengetreten. Das Bundesfinanzministerium teilte auf AFP-Anfrage mit, es könne dies “so nicht bestätigen”. Die Jewish Claims Conference in New York hatte am Montagabend mitgeteilt, mehr als 16.000 Holocaust-Überlebende, die bislang keine Entschädigungen aus Deutschland bekommen hatten, könnten diese nun erwarten. Dies bedeute Zahlungen in Höhe von insgesamt rund 485 Millionen Euro über die nächsten zehn Jahre, hieß es.