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4 Reasons to Remember

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iii

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34

FRIDAY, JANUARY 26, 1990

o 1989. Catherine Kanner. Distributed by Los Angeles Tunes Synchcate.

Austria Widens Its Benefits
For Survivors Of The Holocaust

RON OSTROFF

Special to The Jewish News

N

ew legislation by the
Austrian Parliament
has expanded its so-
cial security pension
benefits to include addi-
tional citizens who were
forced to flee Austria from
the Nazis.
The 48th Amendment to
the Austrian Social In-
surance Law, which became
effective Jan. 1, allows cer-
tain citizens who were
residing in Austria on the
date of the Nazi takeover to
purchase pensions — even if
they never worked in
Austria.
The amendment follows
two years of negotiations
between the Austrian
government and The Com-
mittee for Jewish Claims on
Austria, a New York-based
group including represen-
tatives of 22 major Jewish
organizations.
The Social Insurance Law
change is expected to allow
an estimated 6,000 to 10,000
people — many of them
Holocaust survivors — to col-
lect pensions of about $3,600
per year for the rest of their
lives. But there could be
many more people added to
the system, according to
Minister Philipp Hoyos of
the Austrian Embassy in
Washington. "One doesn't
really know," he said.
However, the minister,
Austria's number two offi-
cial in Washington, stressed
that the payments are not
reparations to war victims.
"Our view is that we help

victims of the Nazis from a
humanitarian point of
view," he said. "We recog-
nize that many Austrians
did horrible things (during
the war) so we realize we had
to do something . . . But
Austria didn't exist after the
Anschluss (annexation). Our
view is that we did nothing
to these people as a state."
Hoyos said that recent
amendments to the Social
Insurance Law are directed
at Austrians who — but for
the Nazis — would have
stayed in the country and
would now be entering the
pension system.
"For them, we wanted to

Filing A Claim?

For further assistance
some of the following
persons and organiza-
tions might be helpful:
• Minister Philipp
Hoyos
The Embassy of
Austria
2343 Massachusetts
Ave., N.W.
202-483-4474
• The Committee for
Jewish Claims on
Austria
Suite 1355
15 East 26th St.
New York, NY 10010
• Aloys Schwarz
Austrian Honorary
Consul
Suite 375
300 E. Long Lake
Road
Bloomfield Hills, MI
48013
313-645-1444

create a possibility of getting
a little of the Austrian pen-
sion system," Hoyos said.
Saul Kagan, executive di-
rector of The Committee for
Jewish Claims on Austria,
added: "They have recog-
nized that they have an
obligation to do something
for the Nazi victims who
were driven out of Austria
with their assets left
behind."
To qualify, a person must
prove that he was born on or
before May 9, 1930 and held
Austrian citizenship and
was present in the nation on
March 12, 1938, the date
Austria was annexed by
Nazi Germany. A notarized
photocopy of the person's
Austrian passport could pro-
vide such evidence, Hoyos
said.
Those who qualify will be
allowed to buy the required
180 months of work time in
the Austrian pension system
at 214 Schillings or under
$18 per month for a total of
about $3,200.
At age 65 for men and 60
for women, those qualified
will begin receiving their
pension of 3,099.99 Schill-
ings or close to $260 paid 14
times a year. That amounts
to about $3,600 per year —
which will be adjusted an-
nually to keep up with
Austrian inflation. The
result is that a man 65 or
over or a woman at least 60
years old, neither of whom
ever worked in Austria,
could get back more money
during their first 12 months
in the pension system than
they paid in, Hoyos said.
Those who have never