Русская версияThe Claims Conference, an organization which has been representing
Jews in negotiating compensation and restitution for victims of
Nazi persecution since 1951, said it has secured payments after
negotiations with the German government for "certain Jewish
survivors of the Nazi occupation of Budapest."
"In recognition of the incarceration and suffering of Budapest
Holocaust survivors, certain Jewish survivors of Nazi-era Budapest
-- who currently reside in eastern Europe and previously did not
receive any payments from certain major compensation program --
will receive a one-time payment of 1,900 euros from the Claims
Conference Budapest Fund," the statement said.
In all, payments totalling 12.3 million euros would be issued to
approximately 6,500 survivors living in Hungary.
Jewish population in Hungary decimated
Up until World War II, around 725,000 Jews lived in
Hungary.
But around 625,000 were deported and murdered by the Nazis
in the death camps.
The compensation payments were being made to survivors of the
Budapest ghetto, since all of the Jews in rural areas had been
murdered, the head of Mazsihisz, the Association of Jewish
Congregations, Peter Feldmayer, told AFP news agency.
"These payments mean a historical recognition of the horrible fate
of the Budapest Jewry during the Nazi persecution," said Greg
Schneider, managing director of the New York office of the Claims
Conference, in Budapest.
The conference said that in order to "streamline the process and
distribute the funds as quickly as possible, the Claims Conference
has reviewed over 25,000 files to identify eligible survivors."
"Brief and simple waiver forms," as required by the German
government, were being sent to 5,790 survivors who the conference
believed may be eligible. The application deadline for compensation
was Aug. 6, 2009.
Mazshisz head Feldmayer welcomed the compensation deal, but said it
must be only a first step in negotiations between the Claims
Conference and the German government to secure a monthly payment to
ghetto survivors.
There are some 80,000 Jews currently living in Hungary, out of a
total population of 10 million, meaning the Hungarian Jewish
community is the second largest in Europe after France.
(Deutsche Welle)
more info >>
<< Back