Tel Aviv – Holocaust Survivors Sue State over ‘Unpaid Reparations’

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    Tel Aviv – A group of Holocaust survivors has brought a lawsuit against the State of Israel for what they say is their rightful share of reparations monies paid to Israel by the former West Germany under the 1953 Reparations Agreement between the two countries.

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    The 270 men and women, most of them in their 80s, are part of a group of Holocaust survivors known as the “Tehran children,” Jewish orphans who fled Germanoccupied Poland for the USSR in 1939. In 1941, after a period of incarceration in the Siberian Gulag, the children were allowed to travel with the newly formed Polish Anders Army to Tehran. The children’s parents had been murdered by the Nazis in Poland or had died in Siberia.

    The current lawsuit centers on the issue of whether the plaintiffs, as Holocaust survivors, are personally entitled to receive compensation payments from the monies Israel received under the Reparations Agreement.

    Under that agreement, which came into force in March 1953, Germany paid Israel a total of 14 million marks over 14 years.

    The “Tehran children” claim that they are entitled to a share of that money.

    According to Weissfeld, though the reparations money was given to the State of Israel for the purpose of aiding Holocaust survivors, the State used it for public projects instead.

    “The ‘Tehran children’ didn’t get any support from the state or the Jewish Agency, but on the other hand the state and the Jewish Agency benefitted from the reparations money that was given to help the ‘Tehran children,’” says Weissfeld.

    The “Tehran children” are claiming entitlement to a payment of NIS 100,000 each, based on what they say they should have received in reparations valued at today’s rates.


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    8 Comments
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    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    12 years ago

    It seems that there is no end to the demands of the survivors for “reparations” nothwithstanding the payments already made. These funds would have to come out of the pockets of other Isreaelis who are already taxed at the highest levels in the world. There is no pot of “free money” that the government has laying around just ready to be handed out to worthy or needy yidden.

    DRE53
    DRE53
    12 years ago

    It’s a shame how israel who’ whole creation was based on the ashes of holocaust kedoshim, would so harshly betray the few survivors who are still around.
    This just shows the chutzpah that the zionist leaders contain.

    12 years ago

    #1 ,
    Please go do an audit of everything your family owns then reply.

    Own property? A business? Cash? Art? Jewelry?

    They lost EVERYTHING!!

    12 years ago

    There are BILLIONS of dollars from Germany ready to be distributed by American and Israeli org’s. The question is are they honest about the distribution or are they “pocketing” some of it? There was a frum person ( not mentioning name) who was collecting monies to distribute for the Holocaust Survivors and he was distributing that monies to his children instead, They all bought houses from that money. He was caught and found guilty, sat in prison for that crime. So, I feel for those survivors who are suing the Israeli gov.

    jaayy
    jaayy
    12 years ago

    3 ur so right. There is more to say but it won’t help anyway

    The-Macher
    The-Macher
    12 years ago

    The state of Israel should never have been granted the right to represent Jews in claims against Germany. Never mind how corrupt the state has always been, but this gives ammunition to all the soinim who say that the only reason Jews have EY is because of the churban. I hope that no compensation is ever paid directly to the state on behalf of the Jews of Egypt, Libya Iraq who lost property, as there the founding of the medina and dubious actions by the tzionim themselves were the cause of the persecutions and expulsions.

    Indeed, this is one more proof that the Satmar Rov was right about the medine. His premise of the three oaths was flimsy, but he, unlike Rav Kook, was roieh es hanoilad. With Jews free everywhere in the world but Iran, and other places open to the small numbers of Jews who need to leave Venezuela temporarily, there is no need for the medine. If it wants Jewish support, it better act Jewish and stop stealing from and persecuting Jews.

    HashemYerachim
    HashemYerachim
    12 years ago

    Most children lost their lives…..