Holocaust victims from FSU to get compensation

After talks with German government, Jewish Shoah victims who fled areas not occupied by Nazis to receive one-time payments.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Holocaust survivors 521 (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
Holocaust survivors 521
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
The board of directors of the Conference on Material Claims against Germany (Claims Conference) announced new changes Sunday to the Hardship Fund that will enable thousands of Jewish Holocaust victims to receive one-time payments.
Following talks with the German government, the payments will now be made to certain Jews who fled some areas of the Soviet Union that were not occupied by the Nazis.
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The changes will come into effect from January 1, 2012.
Providing they meet the program's other eligibility criteria, these Jewish victims will now be included in the Claims Conference Hardship fund. The program issues a one-time payment of 2,556 euro.
The agreement applies to Jews who fled between June 22, 1941 and January 27, 1944. It covers areas of the Soviet Union that were generally up to 100 kilometers from the most easterly advance of the German army but were not occupied later by the Nazis. Applicants who meet these  criteria may now be eligible for a payment from the Hardship Fund.
It is the first time that the experiences of these Jews who fled for their lives have been recognized by Germany.
“Even in this time of financial crisis, the German government continues to recognize its historic commitment to Jewish victims of Nazism,” said Amb. Stuart Eizenstat, Claims Conference Special Negotiator. “Germany understands the importance of acknowledging the suffering of Jews throughout Europe during the Shoah, who feared for their lives if they were even in the path of the advancing Nazi army.”
“Jews who fled ahead of the advancing Nazis in order not to be murdered were nevertheless victimized beyond imagination,” said Claims Conference Chairman Julius Berman. “This payment can never bring back what was lost, but it is an acknowledgment of what they endured during the war.”