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Holocaust Claims Conference says Germany agrees to give $662 million to survivors

Yossi Lempkowicz

In this Thursday, Dec. 12, 2019 photo, Mordechai Ciechanower, a 95-year-old Auschwitz survivor, shows his tattooed identification number as poses for a photo at his home in Ramat Gan, Israel. His mother and two sisters were killed upon arrival in Auschwitz and he says he survived his nearly two years in the camp thanks to his roofing skills and the generous help of others. "I died hundreds of times, but kept getting up," he said. "I never thought I would get out of there, let alone live this long." The widowed Ciechanower now has six grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

The payments will go to 240,000 survivors who mostly live in Israel, North America, the former Soviet Union and Western Europe.

By JNS

The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany announced on Wednesday that after negotiations with the German government on behalf of Holocaust survivors, it has agreed to give $662 million in aid to an estimated 240,000 survivors.

“These increased benefits achieved by the hard work of our negotiation’s delegation during these unprecedented times will help our efforts to ensure dignity and stability in survivors’ final years,” said Gideon Taylor, president of the Claims Conference, in a statement on the website of the New York-based organization.

“We must meet the challenges of the increasing needs of survivors as they age, coupled with the new and urgent necessities caused by the global pandemic,” he added.

The funds will go to survivors—those eligible for the additional payments—who mostly live in Israel, North America, the former Soviet Union and Western Europe, according to the statement.

Ambassador Stuart E. Eizenstat, Claims Conference Special Negotiator, stated: “These additional Hardship Fund payments, along with the global allocation of over $653 million for social-welfare services, will impact Holocaust survivors globally.”

As a result of the negotiations, Germany also agreed to expand the categories of survivors eligible for payments by including the results of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum regarding “open ghettos” in Bulgaria. The expanded eligibility also includes such ghettos in Romania as a result of a report by Yad Vashem.

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