Seeking Child Survivors

July 9, 2013 by Henry Benjamin
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There are officially less than 500 child survivors of the Holocaust registered with in Australia…but the Claims Conference has announced that financial compensation may soon become available through the Government of Germany and needs to make widespread contact with those eligible to claim.

Children at Borkenau - did they survive?  Photot: Polish Central State Archive of Film, Photo and Phonographic Documents

Children at Borkenau – did they survive? Photo: Polish Central State Archive of Film, Photo and Phonographic Documents

Litzi Lemberg of the Sydney-based Child Survivor Group told J-Wire: “The Claims Conference in New York wants to hear from anyone born after 1929 who is a child survivor. They may have been in hiding, in concentration camp or living under a false name but if they survived and are living in Australia they may be eligible for financial compensation.”

The move was initiated by New York-based  Stefanie Seltzer who heads the World Federation of Jewish Child Survivors. Lemberg said that in the past, means tests had been used to identify where financial help was needed most but no guidelines had yet been established in the quest to find children who experienced hardships under Nazi regimes during WWII in Europe.

Lemberg added: “We know there are many more out there who do not identify with our groups and they are probably scattered throughout the country and not just in the big cities. We want to hear from them.”

If you feel you may qualify to register a claim, make initial contact through:

The Jewish Holocaust Centre in Melbourne by phone on 03 9528 1985 or by email at [email protected]

In Sydney more information can be obtained from Lexie Keston at 9417 3354 or email at [email protected]

or Litzi Lemberg on 9331 6304.

Comments

2 Responses to “Seeking Child Survivors”
  1. Otto Waldmann says:

    Thanks Paul, I have a friend here in Bucharest who qualifies but has been unaware of his status. I emailed the World Federation of Holocaust Child Survivors in NYC and they told me that they ” are not involved in matters” related to compensations.
    I need to know if someone, like my friend, who missed out on the last compensation payment, some 10 years ago, can receive that payment as backpayment.
    I shall send the same request for advice to those two orgs. you mentioned.

    keep well my friend

    otto

  2. Paul Winter says:

    It is not the easiest thing to apply.
    I had to go to the claims conference site
    http://www.claimscon.org/what-we-do/compensation/article2/

    then go to a subsection under Article 2 Fund

    Article 2 Fund: Eligibility, Application Forms and Instructions

    and then download the 8 page form in English/German. (The form is also in Hebrew/Russian and German/French)

    Once that is done and completed original documents need to be certified and those together with the form forwarded to one of

    Claims Conference Article 2 Fund
    1359 Broadway
    Room 2020
    New York, NY 10018 USA
    Tel.: (646) 536-9100
    Fax: (212) 679-2126
    E-mail: [email protected]

    For residents of Western Europe:

    Claims Conference Article 2 Fund
    Sophienstrasse 44
    60487 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
    Phone: + 49 69/970701-0
    Fax: + 49 69/970701-40
    Email: [email protected]

    I’ll send my claim form and my wife’s to Germany (when I get around to completing it), but Lexie or JewishCare may give better advice.

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