Germany Announces Half a Billion Euros in COVID-specific Reparations

Germany agreed to pay more than half a billion euros to Holocaust survivors struggling amidt the COVID-19 pandemic on October 14. (Pixabay)

The New-York based Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany announced on October 14 that Germany has agreed to pay more than half a billion euros to Holocaust survivors struggling amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The $662 million will be distributed as aid to nearly a quarter million of the Holocaust’s most impoverished survivors. These funds are intended specifically to provide relief for elderly Jewish survivors who are not already receiving German pensions. Additionally, the funds are to go to survivors residing mainly in the United States, Israel, Western Europe, and the former USSR. A significant portion of these survivors, especially those in Eastern Europe, live in a state of poverty only aggravated by the pandemic. 

Gideon Taylor, the President of the Claims Conference, said, "These increased benefits achieved by the hard work of our negotiation's delegation during these unprecedented times, will help our efforts to ensure dignity and stability in survivors' final years… We must meet the challenges of the increasing needs of survivors as they age, coupled with the new and urgent necessities caused by the global pandemic. It will always remain our moral imperative to keep fighting for every survivor."

The newly secured aid will be distributed in the form of two $1,400 checks sent to eligible survivors over the next two years. This aid is a supplement to the Claims Conference’s already distributed $4.3 million, funds that went directly to agencies providing care for survivors in the spring of 2020. 

The Claims Conference was also successful in expanding eligibility for compensation: Germany will be recognizing 27 “open ghettos” across Bulgaria and Romania for residents to collect benefits.

The negotiations between the conference and Germany also yielded a $36 million funding increase for social welfare services for the survivors, leading to a total of $651 million. This funding will be used for in-home care, food, medicine, transportation, and programs meant to reduce social isolation. 

These survivors are not only more vulnerable to the effects of the pandemic due to their age, but because of the increased financial, mental, and health obstacles they face due to COVID-19. Additionally, as a result of malnutrition during their youth, these survivors often suffer from increased medical issues. On top of this, many survivors are socially isolated and continue to face post-traumatic mental health challenges from the Holocaust.  

Since 1952, the Government of Germany has paid nearly $80 billion in reparations to more than 800,000 survivors of the Holocaust. The Claims Conference hopes the new aid and expansions in eligibility will offer some form of dignity and improved living conditions for the beneficiaries.