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

