Germany to raise funds for Holocaust survivors by 15%

Berlin to provide 403 million euros in homecare aid for Jewish victims of Nazis between 2012 and 2014.

By GIL STERN STERN SHEFLER
Holocaust survivor 311 (photo credit: Etti Cohen)
Holocaust survivor 311
(photo credit: Etti Cohen)
The German government agreed on Tuesday to increase funds allocated to Holocaust survivors by 15 percent, from 110 million euros in 2011 to 126.7 million euros in 2012, the Conference for Jewish Material Claims Against Germany announced.
In total, Germany is expected to allocate the organization – better known as the Claims Conference – 513 million euros between 2011 and 2014 to help Holocaust survivors. According to the new deal reached with Berlin, funds provided by Germany for survivor welfare will reach 136 million euros in 2013 and 140 million euros in 2014.
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“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 in a press release. “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 Claims Conference, which is charged with negotiating on behalf of the Jewish victims of the Nazis, provides in-home nursing and other services for elderly Holocaust survivors in 46 countries around the world. Every year the organization meets with German officials to discuss funds allocated for survivors of the genocidal campaign against the Jewish people before and during World War II, the youngest of whom are now in their late 70s and 80s.
“Once again, the German government has recognized its historic responsibility to help care for Jewish Holocaust victims in their final years,” said Ambassador Stuart Eizenstat, a Claims Conference special negotiator.
“Over the decades, the government has demonstrated its commitment to alleviating the plight of elderly victims who need the care that these funds will provide.”
In addition, survivors who were jailed in a ghetto for at least 18 months will receive a 9-euro increase to their monthly stipends. The Central and Eastern European Fund, which assists Jews living in the former Soviet bloc – many of whom live in relative poverty – will also receive an annual increase in its budget of 2.8 million euros.