Night Of Broken Glass SLAVE LABOR SETTLEMENT EXPLAINED RACHEL YOSKOWITZ Special to the Jewish News 0 n July 17, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder signed legislation establishing a fund to com- pensate slave laborers and forced labor- ers for their suffering during the Nazi era. While it is true that no amount of money will ever adequately compensate survivors for their suffering and loss under the Nazis, it is also true that all of these designated funds in the Slave and Forced Labor Settlement should be disbursed to the rightful recipients. With estimates of close to 3,000 Holocaust survivors residing in metro Detroit, many eligible survivors still remain unknown to the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference) and our local Jewish community. The Claims Conference has established a process to assist Holocaust survivors who were slave laborers and encourages survivors Rachel Yoskowitz is director of immigration and citizen services at Jewish Family Service in Southfield. who believe they are eligible, to apply for the funds set aside in the Slave and Forced Labor Settlement. In Detroit, the Jewish Family Service is the designated agency that can assist all survivors with their questions about this international settlement. JFS does not charge to help former slave labor- ers fill out the proper application to receive their rightful compensation. Following are answers to some fre- quent questions about the Slave and Forced Labor Settlement: What is the Slave Labor Fund? The Slave Labor Fund (officially called the Foundation Remembrance, Responsibility and the Future) was established by the German government with monies contributed by German corporations that utilized slave or forced laborers for the German war effort in the World War II era. The above German foundation administers the Slave Labor Fund through "partner organizations." In the U.S., the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany is the partner organi- zation that will administer the claims for the slave laborers, who are Jews. SLAVE LABORERS AND ALLOCATION everal months ago, as a volun- teer at Jewish Family Service, an agency of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit, I had an opportunity to assist Holocaust survivors in fill- ing out applications for claims against Swiss banks. Late in the afternoon, I spent an hour assisting an elder- ly survivor, a small woman with a sweet smile and quiet demeanor. At the conclusion of our interview, she asked me if she could tell me a secret that she had not shared with any other person since her time in the camps. I listened and we talked. Then she asked if she could show me Jeannie Weiner of Farmington Hills is past president of the Jewish Community Council and past vice president of Jewish Family Service. 11/10 2000 30 some photos. As I nodded, she brought out some crinkled and faded black-and-white shots of sisters, brothers, nieces and nephews, broth- ers-in-law, sisters-in-law — all of them gone — all of them young, never to reach old age. Quietly, she told diverse sto- ries about what had hap- pened to her family. Some were never seen after entering concentra- tion camps and another made it through the camps but died of disease shortly after. It was late when we fin- ished, so I drove the woman home. The experience for me was profound- ly sad, and I felt renewed anger at the perpetrators; but for her, according to her words, she "felt a little better." Now the process at Jewish Family Service.-begins again. Volunteers are being trained to assist those who are applying for payments for having The International Organization for Migration will do the same for the forced laborers, who are non-Jews. Is the Slave Labor Fund the only fund currently open to applicants? No. This is the newest fund and has just been established. The Slave and Forced Labor Settlement is a separate fund that should not be confused with the Swiss Banks Fund (Holocaust Victims Assets) or the Insurance Fund (International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims). Each of these funds has its own crite- ria for applicants, application process, timetable and review process. The International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims will con- tinue to be open for applicants through Feb. 11, 2001. Individuals who have filed a preliminary claim through the Swiss Banks Fund Settlement have received a proposed Plan of Allocation that will be decided upon after Nov. 20, 2000. How do I file an application? The application form is short and biographical. Since the JFS can help you with the application, it is not nec- essary to seek legal aid for this process. There are three different ways to file, one method for each category of eligi- ble applicant: • BEG pension recipients (BEG is the English translation for the German Wiedergutmachung) have received two letters in the mail from Germany. They are marked Erklarung. These need to be signed and returned to the Claims Conference at the Tel Aviv Post Office in Israel, as listed in the letters. • The Article 2 Fund recipients will receive a similar letter later this month. This letter needs to be signed and returned to the address listed in the letter. • Other Holocaust survivors who did not receive either letter, and believe that they are eligible for slave labor payment, will be able to file a separate application for compensation. These application forms will be avail- able at JFS in December 2000. Application deadline will be Aug. 11, 2001, and, again, the JFS will assist survivors in filing the applications. If I filed an application for the Swiss Banks Fund, do I have to file another application now for the Slave Labor Fund? Yes. The Swiss Banks Fund and the Slave Labor Fund are different funds. They have different eligibility standards and a different application process. Can I file an application on behalf of my deceased relatives who were sur- vivors? This settlement (the Slave Labor Fund) is open to survivors who were alive on Feb. 15, 1999. In the event Deutsche mark remaining when the deadline for payment arrives. The German corporations and multi- national businesses have avoided con- fronting this issue for decades, but at last compensation has been discussed and negotiated. While it is certainly late and neither justice nor com- pensation could in any way approach a satisfactory measure, the settlement has been offered and those sur- vivors who are still here to Rightful Action receive it should do so. We continue to remain For some people, the very EANNIE WEINER angered by the length of concept of payment is trou- Special to the time that has passed and the bling; yet those survivors Jewish News number of survivors who who have been deemed are no longer alive to "appropriate" by the receive compensation. We rage at the German government to receive the injustice of the small amount of rec- funds, have an absolute right to ompense, the confusing process and them. the knowledge that the businesses The "negotiated" settlement and large corporations coming for- amount coming from companies and ward now to recognize their involve- multi-national corporations, who ment believe this can wipe out their were doing business with Germany at guilt and complicity. the time, should be paid out com- The Holocaust and its lasting effects pletely. There should be not one been slave and forced laborers during World War II. Survivors living in this area who were in concentration camps and ghettos, or other places of incarceration, who were forced to serve as laborers without receiving compensation, may be eligible to apply for compensation from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.