Holocaust Survivor Compensation increases

Berlin and the Conference on Jewish Material Claims against Germany have agreed Germany will increase funding allotted to Holocaust survivors by almost $50 million in the next three years

The deal indicates funding will rise from $156 million in 2011 to about $180 million in 2012, and then to $200 million by 2014. The conference also secured an increase in pension payments to survivors, and inspired the German government to reevaluate its condition that a person must have spent at least 18 months in a Nazi-era ghetto in order to receive compensation.

“With restitution-related sources of funding on the decline," Claims Conference Chairman Julius Berman said, "This long-term agreement obtained by the Claims Conference is vital to addressing the growing social welfare needs of aging Holocaust survivors." Berman concluded, “It will provide survivors and the agencies that care for them the certainty that funding will be available to meet the anticipated growing demand over the next few years.”