Claims Conference

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Claims Conference
Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany
FormationOctober 1951; 72 years ago (1951-10)
Purpose"negotiates for and disburses funds to individuals and organizations and seeks the return of Jewish property stolen during the Holocaust"[1]
HeadquartersNew York City
Region
Worldwide
President
Gideon Taylor
AffiliationsWorld Jewish Restitution Organization, International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims
Websitehttps://www.claimscon.org/

The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, or Claims Conference, represents the world's

Holocaust. Julius Berman has led the organization as chairman of the board, and currently president, as of 2020.[3][4]

History

The organization was founded in 1951 as a result of negotiations between 23 American Jewish organizations and the government of West Germany under Chancellor Konrad Adenauer.[5][6]

Compensation programs

As of 2012, the Claims Conference has administered the following programs, which provide direct payments to Jewish victims of Nazi persecution. Programs were negotiated with the German government and are subject to eligibility criteria determined by the German government. The Conference continually negotiates to expand and liberalize eligibility criteria in order to include additional victims in the programs. In 1978, after 25 years of payments, the total Federal Republic of Germany compensation payments amounted to 53 billion Deutsch Marks.[7] Payments from some programs continue to this day.

International Holocaust Survivors Night (IHSN)

Every year since 2017 the Claims Conference has hosted International Holocaust Survivors Night on the third night of Chanukah to honor Jewish survivors of the Shoah. Events have been hosted in Jerusalem, Berlin, the New York/New Jersey metro area, Paris and Moscow.[19][20]

Criticism

On May 19, 2006, The Jewish Chronicle revealed that the Claims Conference highest-paid official, executive vice-president Gideon Taylor, was awarded $437,811 (£240,000) in salary and pension (2004 numbers). An advisor to British survivors in compensation claims in the 1990s, Dr Pinto-Duschinsky, commented: "It is wrong for the executive vice-president to earn annually the same as the compensation for several hundred former slave laborers. The moral authority of the leading Jewish organizations is gravely weakened by excessively high salaries for top officials."[21]

One of the most outspoken critics of the Claims Conference is Isi Leibler, the former chairman of the Governing Board of the World Jewish Congress, who cites allegations of incompetence, impropriety and cover-ups as well as the absence of an independent review board, bureaucratization and a domination by a small clique.[22][23]

In an article of The Jerusalem Post he says that "the richest Jewish foundation in the world, has still failed to provide adequate financial assistance to elderly and sick Holocaust survivors who live in abject poverty in the twilight of their lives. An organization which boasts that it currently holds in trust $900 million in assets, yet fails to rectify such a condition, must be held accountable for one of the greatest scandals in contemporary Jewish life."[22]

The priorities of the organization have also been criticized. Among the critics is the Claims Conference own treasurer, Roman Kent, a Holocaust survivor, who told The Jewish Chronicle: "Survivors are suffering. Our only priority should be the survivors, and everything else should be secondary. We are spending money for thousands of projects, but the health of the survivors can't wait. They are dying daily." [...] "I'm not saying that these are bad programs, but they can wait – or else they should be the responsibility of the world Jewish community, not the Claims Conference.[24]

In a 2006 investigative report, it was claimed the organization, while having $1.7 billion in its accounts, finances welfare assistance for only 9,000 survivors while "tens of millions of dollars each year" are spent on management expenses.[25]

Amidst this mounting criticism, the office of Germany's independent federal auditor announced it was considering an investigation of the Claims Conference in June 2008.[26]

In 2023 Claims Conference launched an international investigation into Holocaust denialism. They pushed the claim a large percentage of Dutch youth dismissed the Holocaust. However, investigators and reporters noticed the research was done shoddily and the results seemed made-up.[27]

Money stolen from Claims Conference

On November 9, 2010, the

US Attorney's Office announced an indictment against 11 employees of the Claims Conference and several other individuals for fraud and embezzlement of over $42 million from the Claims Conference. The Claims Conference management alerted the Federal Bureau of Investigation as soon as it discovered the fraud in 2009, and continues to cooperate with the FBI. On October 19, 2012, The Forward
reported that the fraud had grown to $57 million. In 2013, an 8-year jail sentence was handed down to Art. 2 funds director Semen Domnitser.[28][29]

Notable people

See also

References

  1. ^ https://www.claimscon.org/about/ "About Us." Claims Conference. 20 February 2023.
  2. ^ "Nazi-Stolen Properties to Help Holocaust Survivors", New York Law Journal, Julius Berman and Roman Kent, March 15, 2016 (behind the subscription/paywall; reprinted excerpt)
  3. ^ "Claims Conference Board of Directors Charts Future Course at Annual Meeting". Claims Conference. July 14, 2014. Retrieved 2020-03-29.
  4. ^ Boigon, Molly (June 24, 2020). "Claims Conference executive who led during fraud scandal to serve as new chairman". The Forward. Retrieved 2020-09-26.
  5. ^ "German Holocaust Reparations". Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved 2023-02-21.
  6. ^ "Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany". Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved 2023-02-21.
  7. .
  8. ^ Conference, Claims (2015-01-29). "Article 2 Fund". Claims Conference. Retrieved 2023-02-21.
  9. ^ Conference, Claims (2011-10-27). "Central and Eastern European Fund". Claims Conference. Retrieved 2023-02-21.
  10. ^ "Germans to compensate survivors who fled". Australian Jewish News. January 23, 2012. Retrieved 2020-09-26.
  11. ^ Conference, Claims (2015-01-28). "Hardship Fund". Claims Conference. Retrieved 2023-02-21.
  12. ^ Conference, Claims (2011-09-15). "Holocaust Victim Compensation Fund (HVCF)". Claims Conference. Retrieved 2023-02-21.
  13. ^ Conference, Claims (2015-02-03). "Child Survivor Fund". Claims Conference. Retrieved 2023-02-21.
  14. ^ Conference, Claims (2020-01-01). "Spouse of Holocaust Survivor Fund". Claims Conference. Retrieved 2023-02-21.
  15. ^ yitz (2018-06-06). "New Fund for Holocaust Survivors from Romania". WJRO. Retrieved 2023-02-21.
  16. ^ Conference, Claims (2011-11-09). "Slave and Forced Laborers". Claims Conference. Retrieved 2023-02-21.
  17. ^ Conference, Claims (2011-11-10). "Fund for Victims of Medical Experiments and Other Injuries". Claims Conference. Retrieved 2023-02-21.
  18. ^ Conference, Claims (2021-03-24). "Claims Conference Secures $13.5 Million in Funding to Get Holocaust Survivors to Vaccine Sites". Claims Conference. Retrieved 2021-09-06.
  19. ^ "International Holocaust Survivors Night 2018". Claims Conference. December 2018. Retrieved 2020-09-26.
  20. ^ Schaeffer, Jeffrey; Charlton, Angela (December 23, 2019). "From New York to Moscow, Holocaust survivors share memories". Associated Press. apnews.com. Retrieved 2020-09-26.
  21. ^ Frazer, Jenni; Rocker, Simon (2006-05-19). "The man on the left earns $437,811 a year handling Shoah claims. So why are so many survivors pleading poverty?". The Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 2016-08-05.
  22. ^ a b Isi Leibler (May 8, 2007). "Now, the 'March of the Living' scandal". Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 2020-09-26.
  23. ^ Isi Leibler. "At the expense of survivors. Candidly Speaking from Jerusalem". November 8, 2010, Available: http://wordfromjerusalem.com/?p=2513
  24. ^ Haviv Rettig Gur (2008-04-28). "Claims Conference seeks to block documentary". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 2016-08-05.
  25. Ynetnews
    , December 10, 2006.
  26. ^ "Germany mulls probe of Jewish group overseeing Holocaust restitution". Haaretz. June 17, 2008. Archived from the original on 2009-12-08.
  27. ^ [1], "Holocaust research shoddily done, sample unrepresentative, percentages made up"] De Volkskrant, January 25, 2023.
  28. ^ Guttman, Nathan (2013-05-22). "Claims Conference chief knew of $57m Holocaust fraud probe earlier". The Forward. Retrieved 2016-08-05.
  29. ^ "Former Holocaust Claims Conference Director Sentenced to Eight Years in Prison for $57.3 Million Fraud on Organization That Makes Reparations to Victims of Nazi Persecution". US Attorney's Office. 2013-11-04. Retrieved 2016-08-05.

External links