JUNE 22 • 2023 | 23
J
ewish Family Service
will continue to support
Michigan and regional
Holocaust survivors thanks
to the Conference on Jewish
Material Claims Against
Germany (Claims Conference).
The organization announced on
June 15 the results of its negoti-
ations with the German Federal
Ministry of Finance on behalf of
Holocaust survivors living globally, which
resulted in approximately $1.4 billion in
direct compensation and social welfare
services for survivors.
For Jewish Family Service, that means
two grants: one, of about $4.6 million
to provide services to around 400 local
Metro Detroit survivors, and a second of
about $9.9 million to facilitate and pay for
home care for about 220 survivors in the
nine-state region, including survivors who
live outside of the metro area in Michigan.
Risa Berris has been the director of
Holocaust Survivor Services for JFS for
more than 22 years. She
explains the difference
between the two grants.
“Our Metro Detroit
clients access govern-
ment and community
benefits before we use
the Claims Conference
funds,” she said. “These
services include home care for those who
need it, transportation, food assistance,
case management services and emergency
assistance.” Emergency assistance includes
dental and medical needs, help with util-
ities and minor home modifications, pre-
scription assistance — you name it.
JFS was named a regional provider for
the Claims Conference about four years
ago. “We serve the people in the region
who don’t have access to an organization
like JFS,” Berris said. “JFS facilitates and
pays for home care for these clients.”
CLAIMS CONFERENCE
BY THE NUMBERS
The Claims Conference this year
announced that in 2024 it will provide
$888.9 million for home care services,
including an additional $105.2 million in
funding to address survivors’ increased
needs.
Also, more than 128,000 Holocaust
survivors will receive a one-time pay-
ment under the Hardship Fund each
year through 2027. Originally established
to be a one-time payment, negotiations
during the COVID-19 lockdowns result-
ed in three supplemental payments for
eligible Holocaust survivors that will now
continue for four more years.
The survivors receiving these pay-
ments largely include Russian Jews who
were not in camps or ghettos and are not
eligible for pension programs. These sur-
vivors fled the Einsatzgruppen — Nazi
mobile killing units charged with mur-
dering entire Jewish communities. More
than 1 million Jews were killed by these
units, which operated largely by shoot-
ing hundreds and thousands of Jews at a
time and burying them in mass pits.
For those who were able to flee and
survive, they are some of the poorest
in the survivor community; the loss of
time, family, property and life cannot be
made whole. By expanding payments to
these survivors, the German government
is acknowledging that this suffering is
still being felt deeply, both emotionally
and financially. While symbolic,
these payments provide finan-
cial relief for many aging Jewish
Holocaust survivors living
around the world.
The Claims Conference also
announced that funding for
Holocaust education has been
extended for two more years and
increased each year by $3 mil-
lion. The newly negotiated fund-
ing amounts are $38 million for 2026 and
$41 million for 2027.
According to the Claims Conference,
the total amount of direct compensation
for survivors, including one-time pay-
ments and monthly pensions, is project-
ed to be $535 million for 2024.
“Every year these negotiations become
more and more critical as this last gen-
eration of Holocaust survivors age and
their needs increase,” Greg Schneider,
executive vice president of the Claims
Conference, said.
“Being able to ensure direct payments
to survivors in addition to the expan-
sions to the social welfare services we are
able to fund is essential in making sure
every Holocaust survivor is taken care of
for as long as it is required, addressing
each individual need.”
Berris recalls the first grants JFS
received in 1997, totaling about
$80,000. She’s grateful the grants have
grown throughout the years. JFS has
a Holocaust Advisory Council to help
it make decisions on the needs of the
community and how to best use the
funds.
“As generous as our community is, JFS
would never have been able to raise this
kind of money for survivors,” Berris said.
“It’s so important for us to do what we
can to keep survivors in their homes as
leaving home can retrigger their trauma.
The Claims Conference Grants are
essential.”
Claim Conference grants will help JFS continue
to provide services to hundreds of survivors.
Serving Survivors
JACKIE HEADAPOHL, EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
Risa Berris