Millions Of Shekels Transferred By German Government Do Not Reach Holocaust Survivors

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — A Ynet investigation discovered that tens of millions of shekels transferred by the German government and earmarked for Holocaust survivors did not in fact reach the survivors. The Israeli government received the money and deducted the same amount from the pensions it pays the survivors, effectively leaving them with the same amount they received previously.

In 1992- after an agreement between the Claims Conference and the German government, a special fund was set up to compensate Holocaust survivors who had been in camps or ghettos or who had lived under assumed identities in occupied territory, who had not previously received monies under German federal law. The compensations were provided by the German government and in 2018 the monthly pension was €352 per month, but the Claims Conference announced a gradual increase in the sum which would reach €850 per month in 2021.

Yet instead of just transferring the additional monies to the survivors, Israel has taken off the additional amount from the pension which it provides for the survivors, effectively leaving them with the same sum of money as before while saving money on the pension it gives to survivors.

Data from the Ministry for Social Equality demonstrate that in 2019 the Treasury saved 20 million NIS as a result of the increase in pensions from Germany, in 2020 16 million NIS were saved and in 2021 23 million NIS will be saved by the government in this way.

82-year-old Gita Kaufman told Ynet that “we earned this money honestly. I was two years old when I got to the Ukrainian ghetto. I lost my mother and most of my family in the war. My husband was also a Holocaust survivor and he fought in all of the wars in Israel. Why is it that when Germany pays us as an apology for all that we have suffered, the state of Israel takes this sum? We received the money because we were hunted down and our parents were murdered. Why should the state of Israel deduct from the sum we deserve?

“There are many older people especially at this age who need the money. I was widowed and don’t have a car. I need to get to the HMO, I need to take a taxi, it costs money. There are survivors who need to buy wheelchairs, who need someone to take them to the doctor,  to help them at home and they can’t allow themselves these things. We have a right to live a normal life. Why should they take the money from these people?”

The Treasury responded to the claims by stating that “without the intervention of the Treasury the pension of those survivors who receive money from Germany would have been less than the pension of other survivors. The ministry acted to close the gap between the smaller German pensions and the larger one Israel provides. The size of the increment is in direct proportion to the German pension, which changes in accordance with the German government’s policies. The state transfers every year about 5.5 billion NIS to survivors and works to provide various assistance programs in order to maintain their rights and give them appropriate housing etc.”