Report from Jerusalem: The continuing struggle for Holocaust justice
Seventy-one years after the end of World War II, the struggle for Holocaust justice continues.
Seventy-one years after the end of World War II, the struggle for Holocaust justice continues.
Germany has agreed to provide restitution payments to an additional 80,000 Jews in what Claims Conference officials are describing as a historic breakthrough.
The propensity for Jewish organizations to have complicated names and frequently overlapping missions can be seen in the complex area of obtaining restitution for Holocaust-era crimes and looting of personal and communal possessions.
A new Holocaust-era restitution project will work to identify individuals whose property and assets were confiscated by the Nazis. Project HEART — Holocaust Era Asset Restitution Taskforce, a new initiative of the Jewish Agency for Israel with support from the government of Israel, was announced Wednesday.
A company established by Israel\’s Knesset to return or distribute assets belonging to Holocaust survivors and their heirs has been deficient and slow, a state comptroller\’s report said. The report, released Monday, found \”many flaws\” in the activities of the Company for the Location and Restitution of Holocaust Victims\’ Assets, which was established in 2006. The flaws include not searching actively enough for heirs, failing to formulate a long-term policy to detect the needs of and help Holocaust survivors, and granting millions of shekels to other organizations established to assist Holocaust survivors that were not eligible to receive the funds. The report found that the company failed to advertise its assets globally, as it was charged to do three months after it was established, beginning its international campaign three years late, in April 2010.
An Israeli coalition, including the Jewish Agency for Israel, Israeli Holocaust survivor organizations and the Knesset\’s pensioner affairs minister, is calling on the Claims Conference to give Israel a larger share of Holocaust restitution funds and more control over distribution decisions.