Pensions now paid to heirs of Holocaust survivors

The child of Holocaust survivors, Miriam Dubner (not her real name) recently examined the brown and crumbling affidavits of DP camp inmates that had served as ID for her mother and authentication that she had been in a concentration camp. They had been used to apply with the Claims Conference to get reparation money that was available when her mother was alive. Her father, a prisoner of war from the Polish army, had never been eligible.

But due to a change in German law that took place in September 2013, survivors and their heirs can now obtain pensions for forced labor endured during World War II.

Dr. Wallace Greene, a noted Holocaust activist and educator, has joined with Rabbi Asher Vaknin of Beit Ahava VeTorah and law firm Eliahu Weber to assist survivors and their families.

Depending on where they worked, and for how long, survivors may receive between 40,000 and 120,00 Euros. Each case is filed individually; there are no class action lawsuits involved with this procedure.

Dr. Greene, who taught Holocaust courses at Upsala College, has debunked Holocaust deniers through academic publication, and has been a distinguished member of the Holocaust Commemoration Committee of the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey for over two decades. He is a consultant to The International March of The Living as well as Beit Ahava VeTorah. 

More than 50 years after the German Compensation Act was enacted, the Ghetto Workers Compensation Law (ZRBG) now recognizes the work survivors conducted for the Germans while they were at forced labor in the ghettos, factories and labor camps, and they are eligible for pensions.

A survivor who did not filed an application for a German pension in the past but who meets the requirements should apply as soon as possible. If a survivor did file an application in the past and was rejected according to the previous interpretation of the law, they can explore the case and possibly get a new decision. If a benefit has already been claimed or paid according to the ordinance of recognition, the claim for a pension under the ZRBG does not conflict with that.