Germany ups Shoah restitution by millions
Claims Conference strikes new deal raising compensation for Holocaust survivors to $200 million by 2014
A new deal between Berlin and the Conference on Jewish Material Claims against Germany states that the German government will increase funding allotted to Holocaust survivors by almost $50 million in the next three years.
The deal says funding will rise from $156 million in 2011 to about $180 million in 2012, and then to $200 million by 2014.
“With restitution-related sources of funding on the decline, this long-term agreement obtained by the Claims Conference is vital to addressing the growing social welfare needs of aging Holocaust survivors,” said Claims Conference Chairman Julius Berman.
“It will provide survivors and the agencies that care for them the certainty that funding will be available to meet the anticipated growing demand over the next few years.”
The conference has been negotiating with the German government since 2004, securing funds for home and health care for ailing Holocaust survivors.
The conference has also secured an increase in pension payments to survivors, and caused the German government to reevaluate its condition that a person must have spent at least 18 months in a Nazi-era ghetto in order to receive compensation.
Yedioth Ahronoth contributed to this report
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