Cash In Hand
H ARRY KIRS B AU M
StaffWriter
T
here was good news last
week for Holocaust sur-
vivors in the United States,
better news for survivors in
Russia, and the best news if you hap-
pened to be a bureaucrat.
In three separate stories last week,
Russian survivors received tax-exempt
settlement money from a Swiss fund;
legislation to make settlement pay-
ments for U.S. survivors tax-exempt
took another step forward; and a
bureaucratic bonanza was uncovered
•
in an international commission
formed to settle insurance claim for
survivors.
The Forward newspaper reported
that a commission formed to negotiate
a settlement between European insur-
ance companies and Holocaust sur-
vivors is spending about $1 million a
month on administrative costs.
The newspaper wrote that the
International Commission on
Holocaust Era Insurance Claims —
made up of state insurance commis-
sioners and representatives of insur-
ance companies and Jewish organiza-
tions — has spent $405,000 in trav-
el expenses, $170,000 in furniture
for offices in London and
Washington, D.C., and $567,000 in
wages for 10 professional and staff
employees.
Meetings attended by more than 70
people have been held in London,
Jerusalem and Washington.
Negotiations with the insurance
companies have been slow since the
commission was formed 11 months
ago, and the pay-out could be more
than the $1.25 billion Swiss bank set-
tlement that has been announced but
not yet disbursed.
The Forward quotes executive vice
president of the World Jewish
Congress, Elan Steinberg, who sits on
the commission, as saying that none
of the administrative expenses will
come from the proceeds.
In a separate development last week
reported by the Jewish Telegraphic
Agency, about 200 Russian Holocaust
victims received vouchers from a
Holocaust survivors' fund, worth $180
million, created by the Swiss govern-
ment in 1997.
This is the first money most
8/6
999
22 Detroit Jewish News
Russian Holocaust survivors get checks;
so do some reparations administrators.
A provision for income-tax
exempting for similar payments to
Holocaust survivors in the United
States advanced in Washington, win-
ning approval last week in the
Senate as part of the "Taxpayers'
Relief Act".
The legislation, sponsored by
U.S. Sen. Spencer Abraham (R-
Mich..), would prohibit taxation on
settlements as a result of claims with
organizations and foreign govern-
ments that cooperated with the
ments
Nazis, including insurance claims,
financial assets and confiscated land.
"It's important that we prevent
repeated injustices against survivors of
the Holocaust," Abraham said. "The
Jewish people endured the most hor-
rific tragedy this world has witnessed.
It's not enough to remember their suf-
fering, but it's our obligation to pro-
hibit further injustices." Li
— The Jewish Telegraphic Agency
contributed to this report.
Corrections &
Clarifications
Above: Sara Gleich,
who survived a Nazi
firing squad and then
returned home to. the
Soviet Union, receives
a payment July 29
from the Swiss Fund
for Needy Victims of
the Holocaust in a
Moscow synagogue.
)3
Right: Russian Jews
who survived the
Holocaust listen to a ceremony in a Moscow synagogue where a Swiss fund
handed out payments to needy victims of the Nazis. The fund was set up in
1997 by Swiss banks and companies in response to international criticism
about Switzerland's cooperation with the Nazis.
Russian Holocaust survivors have
received for their suffering. After the
Soviet Union collapsed, some sur-
vivors received a bonus to their pen-
sions of less than $4.
Fund officials hope to reach a total
of 2,500 Jewish and non-Jewish sur-
vivors in Russia. Settlements have
already been given to survivors in the
Ukraine, Belarus and the Baltic states.
The $400 payment — and a second
payment of $600 expected in October
— will be tax-exempt.
Meanwhile in London, Barclays
Bank said it was setting up a $3.6 mil-
To clarify the July 30 story
"Settling In," all apartments in
Lincoln Towers in Royal Oak
Township are air-conditioned;
the Fazliu family's system was
not in use.
To clarify the July 30 story
"B'nai B'rith Honors Michlin,
Arnold Michlin, to be honored
by Oakland-Century
Lodge/B'nai B'rith, was a co-
founder of Materials for the
People of Palestine in 1946; in
1948, the group's name was
changed to Materials for the
People of Israel.
The tennis and table-tennis
teams are going to the Maccabi
Games in Houston, not
Columbus, as stated in the July
30 story "Maccabi Team Readies
For Games."
To clarify the In Focus cap-
tion of July 30, the Zager-Stone-
Tucker-Grant Unit of B'nai
B'rith is part of the Great Lakes
Region (there's no longer a
Metropolitan Detroit Council).
lion fund for heirs of its 230 known
Jewish customers in France whose
accounts had been seized in World
War II. In agreeing to the fund,
Barclays, one of Britain's largest finan-
cial institutions broke with eight
French financial institutions that are
fighting a class-action suit in the
United States.
The French branch of Barclays was
the subject of a scandal in March,
when it was revealed that its then-
manager not only acted as the Nazis
banker but also volunteered to hand
over Jewish employees.