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Editorial
Payouts Affirm Germany's Commitment To Survivors
4
nti-Semitism is on the rise
in Germany, with more than
one-fifth of the 82 million
people who call the country home now
considered anti-Semitic, according to
the Anti-Defamation League.
The German government, however,
is trying to distance itself from its
Nazi past by continuing compensation
payments to eligible Holocaust survi-
vors, many frail and destitute.
Notably, Germany continues its
historic obligation to Holocaust survi-
vors and the programs that recognize
and help secure them. Such support
underscores that Nazi Germany ulti-
mately lost gaining control of Europe,
despite murdering 6 million Jews in
the Holocaust and 5 million others.
The Nov.15 payment announce-
ment marks 60 years of compensation
agreements between Germany and the
Claims Conference, going back to 1952
and the Luxembourg Agreements. As
a result of Claims Conference negotia-
tions, the German government has
paid more than $60 billion for the
suffering and losses caused by Nazi
persecution.
Minister of Finance Wolfgang
Schauble also said Germany would
maintain providing funding for home
care for survivors who cannot afford it
— a pipeline put in place in 2004.
In 2011, the Claims Conference
negotiated with the German gov-
ernment a landmark $550 million,
three-year agreement for welfare ser-
vices such as home care. The Claims
Conference projects home care will
decline after 2014 as today's estimat-
ed population of 500,000 survivors
worldwide falls. At least a quarter of
survivors are 85 or older. Keeping
seniors in their homes as long as
practical helps lift spirits and stimu-
late independence.
The New York-based Claims
Conference is formally known as the
Conference on Jewish Material Claims
Against Germany. Since 1951, it has
strived to secure a small measure of
justice for Jewish victims of Nazi per-
secution. It works through a combina-
tion of negotiations, disbursements
and the return of Jewish property lost
in the Holocaust.
Each year, the Claims Conference
distributes $270 million to fund ser-
vices that support survivors. That
figure includes money the Claims
Conference receives from the sale
of heirless Jewish property in the
former East Germany; it does not
include direct payments to survivors
from Germany for which the Claims
Conference acts as a pass-through.
Claims Conference-distributed
money goes to more than 100 organi-
zations that provide home care, food,
emergency assistance and medical
care to Nazi Germany victims in 46
countries, including Jewish Family
Service of Metropolitan Detroit (JFS).
Up to 700 survivors live in Metro
Detroit, according to the Holocaust
Memorial Center in Farmington Hills.
Through JFS, at least 240 receive
home care support for basic needs
such as bathing and cooking. As local
liaison to the Claims Conference,
JFS vets local home care applicants,
applying time-tested guidelines to
verify Nazi persecution and financial
need.
Interestingly, because of a Russian
influx, Germany is the only European
country with a growing Jewish popu-
lation since 2000. Today, more than
200,000 Jews live in the Deutschland.
Chancellor Angela Merkel and her
recent predecessors have stood with
Israel during tough political times
even as they face anti-Jewish senti-
ment metastasizing in their midst.
Through the rise and fall of
Communism, the reunification of
Germany and later German govern-
ments, the Claims Conference and
the German Ministry of Finance
have kept the changing needs of
Holocaust survivors in their rearview
mirror and have adjusted programs
and assistance accordingly. In some
ways, that's a remarkable tribute to
Germany, still stained by traces of
the blood that Hitler's fury spilled
more than 65 years ago.
—
In a statement
about sustain-
ing the dignity
and validation of
Holocaust sur-
vivors, Claims
Conference
Chairman Julius
Berman put it well:
"Together we owe
Julius Berman
it to these heroes
of the Jewish
people to make their last years more
dignified and comforting than their
youth."
The global Jewish community owes
it to survivors, abandoned by the
world once, to stand in step with the
Claims Conference to assure they are
never abandoned again.
❑
Guest Column
If You Build It, They Will Come
L
ike many rabbis, I'm often asked
why I chose to become a rabbi.
People are interested to know
if there was a pivotal moment in my
upbringing that steered me to the rabbin-
ate. In responding to that question, I've
always cited my years as a student leader
at Michigan State University Hillel.
A few weekends
ago, I spent a mem-
orable weekend in
East Lansing with
my eldest child and
attended Shabbat
festivities at MSU
Hillel. It was the
first Shabbat I expe-
rienced on the MSU
campus since my
graduation from the
university almost 15
years ago. It proved
to be a nostalgic weekend for me and one
in which I truly gave thanks for the many
gifts that MSU Hillel provided for me.
Early on in my college career, there was
a fire at the Hillel building. The structure
54
November 29 • 2012
jry
was already old and in
myself spending a lot of
need of remodeling.
time at Hillel. During
After the fire, students
my sophomore year,
attending events at Hillel
I co-led the student
would complain of the
board and was chairman
horrible smell from the
of the Jewish Student
fire and water damage.
Union. So, after the
There was no doubt that
fire, I had a seat at the
a new Hillel building
table discussing build-
ing plans with lead-
was sorely needed.
I became a student
ers of the institution's
leader at MSU Hillel
"adult" board: architects,
almost immediately.
Jewish Federation lead-
During "Welcome Week"
ers and donors. I recall
my freshman year, I was
a Federation executive
asked by the president of
cautioning me not to
Hillel if I would be inter-
get excited about seeing
the imagined new Hillel
ested in taking a vacant
Miller's son Joshua in front of
position on the Hillel
building while I was
MSU Hillel
board. I had served as
still a student, but that
president of my synagogue youth group
I would one day take pride in knowing I
as a high school senior and just returned
had something to do with its creation.
from a summer in Israel on a teen tour so
That lesson from the Federation execu-
I was eager to get involved in Jewish life
tive proved true. The invitation to attend
on campus. I replied that I was interested
Shabbat dinner a few weeks ago was to
and the rest was history.
honor MSU Hillel on the 10th anniversary
I jumped right in and soon found
of its Lester & Jewell Morris Hillel Jewish
Student Center (related story: page 62).
Leading Shabbat evening services on
the second floor that night, I looked
out at the very young looking faces in
the congregation and flashed back to
the many times I led services as a col-
lege student. I looked into the beautiful
library room where one student was bus-
ily studying and recalled the thousands of
hours I spent sitting in the old library of
Hillel cramming for final exams, explor-
ing ancient Jewish texts and writing my
admission essays for rabbinical school.
Following services that night, my son
asked why there were so many students at
Shabbat dinner. I explained that Hillel was
the only place on campus for students to
enjoy a hot, kosher Shabbat meal. I told
him how important Hillel is for Jewish
students on campus. And then I told him
how important Hillel was for me.
Without MSU Hillel, I don't know
where I would be today.
❑
Rabbi Jason Miller is a local educator,
entrepreneur and blogger. He graduated
from James Madison College at MSU.