32
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, March 8, 1985
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NEWS
FIND IT
L
IN THE
Cutback On Reparations
To Emigres Protested
AN
T15
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Special to The Jewish News
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San Francisco — The Social Se-
curity Administration recently
reduced benefits to Soviet Jews
throughout the United States by
the amount the emigres have re-
ceived in reparation payments
from West Germany.
San Francisco attorney Leon
Atlas, who represents many of the
local Soviet emigres, said he is
considering a class action suit on
behalf of all Soviet Jews whose
payments have been cut.
Over the last two years, the
emigres have received one-time,
lump-sum reparation payments
from the West German govern-
ment because they were born in
Nazi-occupied territory prior to
1944. The U.S. government,
which considered the reparations
as income, has reduced their disa-
bility and Supplemental Security
Income checks by the same
amount.
It is estimated there are 1,000
Soviet Jews in San Francisco who
were born prior to 1944 in
German-occupied territories and
are affected by the Soviet Security
cutback. The reparation pay-
ments they received in 1983 and
1984, varied from $1,600 to
$3,000, and according to the So-
cial Security Administration,
pushed those people — for the
month in which the payments
were received — beyond the limits
allowed for government assis-
tance.
There are about 70 Soviet Jews
living in Detroit who would be af-
fected by the move according to
Sam Lerner, executive director of
Jewish Family Services - Reset-
tlement Service.
Atlas, a 39-year-old Russian-
born attorney, said that because
the reparations were made in one
payment, they should not be con-
sidered income. Instead, he said,
they should be seen as an asset.
This, he added, would follow an
Internal Revenue Service ruling
that reparation payments are not
income — because they are in the
nature of reimbursement.
In November, a federal appeals
court in San Francisco ruled in
favor of Felicia Grunfeder, a
Holocaust survivor now residing
in the Fairfax district of Los
Angeles. Federal officials had cut
off her disability benefits in 1980,
claiming that her reparations — a
monthly $228 check from the
West German government — had
placed her beyond the limits of the
low-income program.
Grunfeder, 46, sued the U.S.
and lost. But she fought that deci-
sion, and, finally, the 11-member
U.S. Court of Appeals ruled in her
favor, 7-4.
Since the Social Security Ad-
ministration has a history of
non-compliance, Atlas contends,
he is preparing himself for the
eventuality of a court case involv-
ing perhaps thousands of Soviet
emigres nationwide.
However, Atlas said, he first
will ask the Social Security Ad-
ministration to reinstate the
payments, which in these cases
involve not disability insurance
but SSI.
The other major difference in
the Grunfeder suit is that her
stipend was monthly. Because the
Russian emigres have received
but one reparation payment from
the German government, the
legal precedent in that case may
not apply, Atlas said.
"It is not just the matter of the
few hundreds of dollars which the
Social Security withheld from
each person. But there is a class
action issue here."
Marc Klein is editor of the "Jewish
Bulletin" in San Francisco.
Germans Protest
Israel Travel Tax
Bonn (JTA) — West Germany
and Israel are embroiled in a dis-
pute over the recently increased
tax Israel imposes on its citizens
who travel abroad. The Bonn gov-
ernment has asked the Israelis to
exempt those who travel with the
youth exchange program between
Israel and West Germany. Israel
has adamantly refused.
The matter reportedly was the
subject of a heated exchange be-
tween visiting Israeli Deputy
Premier and Foreign Minister
Yitzhak Shamir and West Ger-
man Foreign Minister Hans-
Dietrich Genscher last week.
The tax is $150 per person. A
West German official who de-
clined to be identified, main-
tained that it was unfair for the
Israelis to "make a profit" on a
youth exchange program that is
largely financed by We'st Ger-
mans.
Bonn officials have been argu-
ing that the travel tax was
damaging efforts to revive the
youth exchanges with Israel.
They were suspended in 1982
when many German groups can-
celled their trips to protest the in-
vasion of Lebanon by Israel. The
program re-commenced last year
and has been hailed by Bonn as
"outstanding success story" in
German-Israeli relations.
Cabinet Studies
Israel Tourism
Jerusalem (JTA) — Israel is not
spending enough to promote
tourism, a major source of foreign
currency, Minister of Tourism
Avraham Shamir told the
Cabinet Sunday. For every dollar
invested in tourism by the gov-
ernment, the economy reaped
$150. The $3 million now being
spent annually on advertising
and promotion is far from suffi-
cient, he declared.
Gad Yaacobi, Minister of Eco-
nomic Planning agreed that the
modest budget for tourist promo-
tion and advertising kept Israel
from benefiting from the mass
tourist market. However, he said,
the present level of service in the
country does not justify the prices
charged.
The Cabinet appointed a com-
mittee of ministers, including
Shamir and Yaacobi, to draft a
new policy on tourist promotion.