Since 1951, the Claims Conference has waged a historic and unprecedented campaign for a small measure of justice for Jewish victims of Nazism. For more than 55 years, the Claims Conference has continuously negotiated with the German government and other entities for payments and return of assets to Nazi victims and their heirs.
The organization has the fundamentally impossible task of reconciling the greatest moral challenge in history, the Shoah, with society’s basest element, money. No amount of money can compensate Nazi victims, but the Claims Conference has attained recognition for their suffering and losses while also working to ensure that those who perpetrated or assisted in the Holocaust do not continue to profit from it.
The Claims Conference has obtained more than $60 billion (US) for Jewish victims of Nazism and has created numerous programs to pay and assist more than 500,000 Holocaust survivors in 87 countries.
An Israeli film that negatively depicts the Claims Conference was recently reviewed by the CJN. This film is based on mistruths and distortions, using sensationalist tactics and outright lies in order to besmirch the Claims Conference. The CJN reviewer, unfortunately, presented the film as fact and did not attempt to verify the filmmakers’ untrue claims. Canadian Jewish Holocaust Survivors and the Canadian Jewish Congress both condemned the movie.
The review also did not mention that the Claims Conference has filed a defamation lawsuit in Israel against the filmmakers. A 28-page rebuttal to the film is on the Claims Conference website, www.claimscon.org.
Also on the Claims Conference website is comprehensive information on programs for Jewish victims of Nazism and detailed information about Claims Conference activities and finances.
For decades, the Claims Conference worked alone on behalf of Nazi victims, when their needs were not a priority for Jewish organizations or for the government of Israel. In recent years, the needs of elderly victims of Nazism have become acute and well known, with the Claims Conference still the primary organization addressing those needs.
In 2007 alone, the Claims Conference distributed or allocated approximately $630 million (US) to and for the benefit of Jewish victims of Nazism and their heirs, the largest amount handled by any Jewish organization worldwide. Total allocations in 2007 for social welfare services for Nazi victims in Canada came to approximately $2.2 million, more than triple the $640,000 allocated in 1995 when the Claims Conference began funding such programs.
The film states, untruthfully, that the Claims Conference has $1 billion (US) in assets at its disposal that it is not using for the benefit of Holocaust survivors. The facts are in the financial statements of the Claims Conference, which are audited by Ernst & Young and available on the Claims Conference website. The movie producers were told that the $1 billion figure was wrong, but they did not allow facts to get in the way of compelling filmmaking.
More importantly, the work of the Claims Conference steadily continues. Recent Claims Conference negotiations in Germany resulted in one-time payments for approximately 6,000 Jewish survivors of the Nazi siege of Leningrad and one-time payments for approximately 6,000 survivors of Nazi-occupied Budapest. Annual negotiations with Germany have increased the number of survivors receiving Claims Conference pensions from 25,000 to more than 100,000, as well as increasing the amount of those payments several times.
In 50 countries, Jewish victims of Nazism have received vital social services with Claims Conference allocations, such as food packages and hot meals, medical care, home care, winter relief, and emergency cash grants to help pay rent and utilities.
Since its establishment, the Claims Conference has been the primary advocate for the rights of Jewish victims of Nazism and their heirs, and it will continue to be so as long as needed. However, Claims Conference resources are finite and will decrease significantly in the coming years. We ask the rest of the Jewish world to join our efforts in assisting survivors, as many of them will be with us for years to come.
Julius Berman is chairman of the Claims Conference. Bernie Farber is chief executive officer of Canadian Jewish Congress.