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Friday May 27, 2005

Survivors convince Germans to boost pensions

by toby axelrod
jta

berlin | Every May in Berlin brings the annual meeting between representatives of the German government and the Claims Conference, the main organization representing Holocaust survivors around the world.

But there was something different about the conference’s talks this year with the German Foreign Ministry, which aimed at filling in gaps in Holocaust compensation and pushing for recognition of more survivors. This year, the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II, the Claims Conference’s negotiating committee was led by survivors.

“I was just the traffic cop,” said Israel Singer, president of the Claims Conference and chairman of the committee, who added he “changed its structure so the politicians would hear not from me, but from the survivors.”

The talks resulted in an additional payment of $11.4 million for home care for needy Jewish survivors in 17 countries, on top of the $7.2 million agreed to after negotiations last year.

In addition, survivors of several slave labor camps were added to those who receive pensions from Germany. Survivors incarcerated for at least six months in camps in Hungary, Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria who meet certain criteria are eligible.

A spokesman for Germany’s Finance Ministry said the government doesn’t comment on the annual meetings. Claims Conference members weren’t so reticent, however.

Roman Kent, an Auschwitz survivor and chairman of the American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors, said, “Let’s not concentrate only on the dead survivors, let’s do something for the needy survivors.”

The negotiating team “was able to convey our feelings, and some of our concerns were addressed,” Kent said in a phone interview from Washington, where he was attending meetings of the International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims.

Kent said that since survivor organizations first were brought into the Claims Conference 12 years ago, “the meetings move forward at a better rate.”

“Nobody can understand that they killed 6 million people,” Kent said. “The number is too large. But if you bring it to an individual level, it means something.”

A ministry spokesperson said that the discussions were positive and that Schmidt would respond to the letter soon.

With the agreement on home-care funds finished, Singer said he had a sense of personal satisfaction “that I haven’t had in the last 15 years, knowing that no Holocaust survivor in the next three years will go to sleep hungry or alone.”

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