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Germany to pay additional $88 million to Holocaust survivors

The country, which perpetrated mass murder against Jews and other minorities between 1933 and 1945, also agreed to increase pensions to 55,000 Holocaust survivors in Central and Eastern Europe, as well as to expand eligibility for child survivors.

A group of Holocaust survivors known as the “Tehran children” in the Supreme Court of Jerusalem, where they filed an appeal against the state. They argued that they are entitled to their rightful share of reparation money paid to Israel by West Germany under the 1953 Reparations Agreement. Nov. 11, 2013. Photo by Flash 90.
A group of Holocaust survivors known as the “Tehran children” in the Supreme Court of Jerusalem, where they filed an appeal against the state. They argued that they are entitled to their rightful share of reparation money paid to Israel by West Germany under the 1953 Reparations Agreement. Nov. 11, 2013. Photo by Flash 90.

Germany has agreed to pay another $88 million to fund social-welfare services for Holocaust survivors, according to the New York-based Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany on Tuesday.

The country, which perpetrated mass murder against Jews and other minorities between 1933 and 1945, also agreed to increase pensions to 55,000 Holocaust survivors in Central and Eastern Europe, as well as to expand eligibility for child survivors.

The funding increases the budget for aging survivors to $561.7 million this year.

“These elderly heroes deserve the recognition that increase payments and much-needed service will provide,” said Claims Conference negotiator Greg Schneider.

Since 1952, Germany has paid more than $70 billion to Holocaust survivors and programs to assist them, in large part due to the work of the Claims Conference.

“These movements don’t stop with a boycott. We know where this is going, and that’s why we are going to get out ahead of it,” an attorney at the center told JNS.
On May 9, vandals spray-painted antisemitic symbols and Bible references on the Waukesha County memorial, which includes a steel beam from the World Trade Center.
“I’m not sure we should make the deal if they don’t sign,” the U.S. president said at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday. “I think they owe that to us.”
The protest was “a powerful show of solidarity,” Jayne Zirkle of the Lawfare Project told JNS. “To condemn people for attending such an event is to condemn the very principles of freedom our nation was founded on.”
“If publicly-funded institutions cannot host such events without folding to pressure, serious questions arise about that funding,” a Jewish House of Lords member said.
The attacks followed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement on Tuesday that the IDF is deepening its operations in Lebanon.