compensation and restitution for the jewish victims of the holocaust

in the calamitous history of the nazi era in europe,

many millions of forced labourers worked in German

industry and agriculture. then there were the slave

workers. they were ordered to be worked to death, inside

or outside the camps, within six months to make room

for the next batch of Jewish slave workers. the objective

for this for the third Reich after the wannsee Conference

was, as you know, that every Jew should be exterminated

Compensation & Restitution

foR the Jewish ViCtims of the

holoCaust

by Clemens n nathan

The villa at Wannsee, location of the Wannsee Conference

Athanaeum Booklet-4:Layout 1 20/04/2011 10:01

in all German-occupied and controlled parts of the world.

six million were killed either through gassing and burning

in camps or through shooting, including 1.5 million

children. shooting and gassing were also carried out in

mobile units, particularly in eastern europe and the

former soviet union. in poland about 10% of the

population were Jews. three million were murdered.

at the end of the war the former third Reich was

divided into four zones – Russian, french, British and

american and the laws relating to reparations were quite

different in each. the Russians were totally opposed to it

for anyone individually, despite Babi Yar and other

horrors (the ussR dismantled virtually the entire industry

of east Germany, however, and shifted it to Russia), the

french and British at first were indifferent. the

Jewish slaves during the Second World War


americans – from the very beginning – maintained that

reparations were essential. they introduced the first

property legislation and two years later the uK followed.

after the Berlin airlift (1948/49), the allies decided

that they wanted an independent Germany; in 1949 the

federal Republic was created. the Berlin Corridor was

the beginning of fundamental change in the allied Zones.

German-Jewish refugees had applied immediately

the second world war ended to get back their own

possessions. an organisation was structured with the

heads of leading Jewish communal organisations from the

main countries to which they had fled. Konrad adenaeur,

the mayor of Cologne, a devout Catholic, saw that if

Germany became an independent state soon it would

need to accept the horrors of the third Reich as a liability

with which they would have to try to deal. they were after

all the successors of the third Reich.

Germans surrender to Field Marshal Montgomery, 3 May 1945


“You shall not

murder and inherit.” it

was their moral

obligation to sort this

out. the number of

human lives lost was so

enormous that any

settlement would still be

insignificant. other

German politicians

agreed. when Konrad

adenaeur became their

first Chancellor, he was

aware that to ignore

reparations would create a poor image with the allies,

particularly the united states.

the Jewish organisation created for this called itself

the Conference on Jewish material Claims against

Germany (or as it is known generally “the Claims

Conference”). the Germans described their settlements

as ‘wieder Gut machung’ – ‘to make whole or to make

good’. the Claims Conference could never ever accept

that any material claims could make good what had been

done to those left alive, let alone for those who had been

murdered.

there was opposition from some Jews to make any

settlement. how on earth could the Germans pay with

money for the murder of six million people? if they gave

money and it was accepted by the Jewish community it

Konrad Adenaeur


would surely be classed as ‘blood money’ over the corpses

of those who were no longer there. there was a debate

between these concepts and those who felt it was correct

to urgently help survivors. incredible poverty existed at

the end of the second world war in Dp camps and

elsewhere. the Kibbutzim in israel absorbed 50% of the

refugees. some old people who would never be able to

work again were taken to old age and nursing homes.

there were terribly sad stories how many of the ships to

palestine from Dp camps were turned back but very

gradually refugees there were absorbed in america,

australia, throughout europe and elsewhere, where

communal services took care of them in a very moving

British soldiers outside a DP Camp, 1945-6


way. the challenge to absorb them was not easy. some of

the people from the camps were difficult. some had only

survived by being very self-centred and tough. this was

the situation seven years after the end of hostilities.

the Central British fund had dealt with 70,000

immigrants from Germany and elsewhere from 1933

onwards and after the war the Jewish trust Corporation

dealt with approximately 2,000 settlements made from the

British Zone to the uK.

following extensive negotiations between israel, the

Claims Conference and the federal Republic of Germany

in luxemberg in 1952, agreements were reached.

the first was the israeli one, agreed on condition

that they would use the money to buy equipment from

Germany for new infrastructure in israel. the fRG had

little money and offered a twelve-year programme for

israel (only four years old) for different infrastructure

projects to help immediately with the enormous problems

encountered there as a result of the absorption of so

many refugees

the second agreement was with the Claims

Conference for the refugees outside israel. they needed

money to resettle refugees and revitalise Jewish

communities. these agreements heralded the beginning

of reparations. money was also given for state pensions

to all eligible survivors born in Germany and living in the

west and in israel. the funding for this was sent directly

to them from Germany. more and more problems arose,

making it clear that the funding was inadequate for all the


atrocities people had suffered. many gaps existed,

especially for those left behind the iron Curtain who

could not obtain pensions or property restitution from

the fRG.

the Claims Conference also approached German

industrialists who were reluctant, apart from a few

exceptions, to give compensation for those who had

worked in their factories for no wages and under terrible

conditions. the industrialists had benefited from this.

some industrialists such as flick and Krupp had

been sentenced to prison in landsberg. they were

released a few years after the war. their expertise was

needed to rebuild the federal Republic. frederick flick

had supported hitler from the very beginning in 1933 and

had been on a planning committee with himmler, as had

Krupp. their wealth was again beyond belief. a constant

battle took place with the flick industrial corporations,

like Daimler-Benz and Dynamit

nobel which had made shells in

the war. thousands of young

women worked in their

underground plants. these poor

Jewish women, starving in the

concentration camps, were only

driven part of the way to work.

they had to walk about one

hour and were given a ration of

one piece of bread. they would

work twelve hours in one of the Frederick Flick


factories and then returned in a similar way to their

concentration camps. many of the women collapsed in

the works from exhaustion and malnutrition. those who

worked slowly were not allowed to come back. the

managers would inform the camps and the women were

murdered to save space and the next ones would come.

all this has been very carefully documented.

flick always played cat and mouse, never agreeing to

anything but pretending that he would do something. it

was a nightmare. finally, on his 80th birthday, flick

announced that he was giving a very, very large sum of

money (80 million deutschmarks) to the ss pension fund

and nothing would come for his former slave workers. he

had promised to give some. he died when he was 90.

when the Claims Conference approached his family they

explained that they could not give money where their

father had had no intention to do so. the flicks called in

the Deutsche Bank to organise their father’s vast estate.

the Claims Conference showed the bank all the

correspondence. the bank insisted that unless the flick

family accepted to pay compensation they would not

touch the estate. a settlement was made at a modest

figure. the Claims Conference accepted the money

which, although far from sufficient for these poor women,

was better than waiting another few years by which time

they might all have been dead. it took 41 years to finally

obtain this money in 1986.

the brutality of the Krupp organisation is another

illustration. many of them had died of typhoid or were


exterminated. Krupp gave 10 million deutschmarks for

forced and slave labourers in 1959, 14 years after the end

of the second world war.

when the Berlin wall

collapsed in 1989 the Claims

Conference approached Chan-

cellor Kohl to see whether he

would accept that all the Jews

from the former German

Democratic Republic would be

allowed to receive comp-

ensation and restitution like

those living in the federal

Republic. this was agreed. the

Claims Conference then took

60 surveyors to look through

the whole of the former GDR where there had been

houses, shops and businesses probably belonging to

Jewish families. those found were registered so that it

could be made clear that Jewish properties were protected

after the statute of limitations for other claimants and

could be claimed for by those people who had fled

elsewhere, their heirs or as heirless property.

massive advertising took place in 35 countries

drawing attention to what had been negotiated and asking

people to apply. the results were impressive. there was

still a sum which was not claimed, mainly belonging to

families who had been killed. after a few years, it was

decided that some of this should be recycled for those in

Chancellor Kohl


desperate need. the needs of Jews living in eastern

europe could be partly met with these funds. there was

now a possibility to reach out to all in the former soviet

union. Jews there were used to living from hand-to-

mouth with hardly anything to eat and not enough fuel to

be warm in winter. they had the bad luck that when

auschwitz and other camps in eastern europe were

closed they moved eastwards. soup kitchens were opened

with local Jewish communal institutions. these

developments were successful and with the extra money

from the former GDR much more was done and is still

being done today. 26,000 holocaust survivors still use

these facilities today. none of them have yet received

property restitution from their countries such as poland,

hungary and Russia.

it was agreed to use a small percentage of Claims

Conference funds for the re-establishment of Jewish

european Communities and for cultural education about

the holocaust in europe and elsewhere. Yad Vashem, a

memorial & museum about the holocaust in Jerusalem

was created; also the museum of the Diaspora in tel aviv.

other Centres like the holocaust museum in washington

and the imperial war museum in london were further

examples. the money came from different settlements.

another agreement was reached with others for

former forced labourers who worked in German industry

and now live in what was the former soviet union. their

conditions are appalling as they are for all the former

Jewish slave workers living there. the enforcement of an


agreement for everyone finally came about because some

of the former Jewish slave survivors living in the united

states were able to help, as well as due to the negative

publicity in the us press. the powerful Class actions they

implemented there sometimes helped. the German

industrialists realised that some form of legal peace was

necessary; otherwise they could be sued again and again.

they wanted to continue to trade with the usa and

american lawyers could block this. it was then that they

approached their Government. finally an agreement was

signed for a legal peace. it came about under Gerhard

schroeder (the social Democratic Chancellor) in coalition

the Green party. in his previous election manifesto, he

had referred to the duty of the federal Republic to settle

Yad Vashem Hall of Names


these matters. his

discussions with German

industry were difficult

because reparations had

been planned to be settled

for a definite amount in a

later peace treaty. Germany

and the allies had not

signed a peace treaty. the

last joint agreement in

september 1990 was the

two plus four agreement

(after which, in october

1990, Germany was

unified). the question of reparations was at that time to

be left to a final peace treaty. madeleine albright stated

that, as far as the united states was concerned, the Debt

Conference was the last agreement. some industries and

banks called in independent historians to examine the

whole background of what had happened. it was based

on many of these independent reports that settlements

for 10 billion Deutschmarks on a 50/50 basis between the

Government and industry were finally agreed in 2000, 55

years after the war.

in negotiating for extra compensation for women

who had endured medical experiments, it was discovered

that some of them did manage to give birth later.

unfortunately, some of these children (about 600) were

malformed – mentally or physically – and the Claims

Gerhard Schroeder


Conference pleaded for additional funds for these

unfortunate children, now in their sixties. finally a token

was received. that is a complicated story on its own. one

of the elderly women looked at me when i got angry and

said, “why do you get so excited in the discussions? i was

lucky to have medical experiments carried out on me. this

saved my life; otherwise i would have been in the gas

chamber and, look, i have had a wonderful life now

despite everything i endured.” it is amazing how the

human brain can adjust and cope with the most

unbelievable tragedies in life.

as the knowledge of what had happened during the

war became clearer from large-scale documentary

research and from individuals, it was realised that there

were european institutions that continued to benefit

from holocaust victims. the Banks in switzerland, like

uBs and Credit suisse, held sums deposited by Jews who

had entrusted their money there during the hitler regime.

the insurance companies such as the Generali and others

held their life insurances. stolen art was in museums.

property belonging to deported Jews was given to

municipalities in many occupied countries. the

descendants of many of the deceased could not provide

documents such as death certificates and had their

applications rejected. this was unacceptable to the Claims

Conference.

there were also problems concerning claims relating

to Jews outside Germany and austria. the world Jewish

Restitution organisation (whose Chairman was edgar


Bronfman) with the support of the Claims Conference

dealt with these. Bronfman, for example, flew to Berne in

his private jet, together with the president of the Claims

Conference, israel singer, to meet the swiss Bankers

federation in 1997. the Chairman of the swiss Bankers

made them stand behind a desk and accused them of

trying to blackmail the swiss Banks. Bronfman and singer

were outraged. they flew back to america and went to

see president Clinton. he appointed a secretary of state,

stuart eizenstat, for them. they spoke to senators and

the treasurer of new York state, suggesting that no

tenders for Bonds from swiss Banks be accepted in new

York until the problems of restitution were settled. the

new York treasurer then called on all the state treasurers

to hold a meeting. the main income for treasury Bonds

for swiss Banks was crucial for them. Bronfman was

invited back to Berne. Discussions became constructive.

Edgar Bronfman receives the Presidential medal from Bill Clinton


in 1998 their offer to settle at $1.25 billion was accepted,

rather than bargaining for too long, so that those who

needed the funds would get some money straight away. a

group of independent swiss historians appointed by the

Berne Government later showed that the swiss Banks had

acted dishonestly and they were condemned. the final

payment was effected 53 years after the end of the war.

similar negotiations took place with insurance

Companies who settled for $100 million. this helped to

give some aid to some impoverished survivors and their

children who had tried unsuccessfully before to obtain

some compensation.

in 1952 about 600,000 who had been in camps or

hidden elsewhere were still alive. many have of course

since died. the administrative work involved in the

organisation of the disbursement of money from the

Banks, insurance Companies and the German

Government is an enormous operation. in one year alone,

280,000 received special one-off payments from the

Claims Conference, in addition to regular payments for

survivors in 75 countries. in some settlements, only 25%

of the applications were valid. often there are as many as

20% who claimed they had been in concentration camps

but have never been there. in Bad aronsfeld, the Red-

Cross Centre has a record and details of most people who

had been in camps, including those who had been

exterminated. the records are now digitally available. at

the Yad Vashem museum in israel they have records and

many photographs of four million holocaust


exterminated victims. Camps are still being found where

everybody was wiped out. the checking of claims is

carried out by a series of computers in new York,

frankfurt, Budapest and tel aviv, synchronised to enable

applications to be examined. sometimes similar claims are

made under the same name in different countries and

movingly brothers, sisters and other relations are brought

together, not realising that their relatives were still alive.

over 8,000 telephone calls are received each week in new

York alone, in many languages. the callers often want to

speak about their own claims or just to have contact with

someone so that they are not lonely. the Claims

Conference has set up Day Centres in different countries.

some survivors suffer terrible traumas of their past

experiences. it is a comfort for them to be with people

with similar problems. others have fully integrated. it is

difficult to measure what is best for those from the camps.

some of the young people who came to england from

the camps were sent immediately to a special centre near

newcastle where they were given for the very first time

in their lives beds with sheets and nourishing food. they

were able to take part in sporting activities there, as well

as being taught english. these youngsters mostly grew

up successfully. many of us are proud of the way that the

work of the Claims Conference enabled them to be

rehabilitated and continue to live with dignity.

i have only highlighted a tiny part of the

negotiations as it is a very complex subject. over $60

billion have been needed and obtained in over 30


agreements. this year we received 100 million euros for

home Care urgently needed for approximately 70

countries. other Commissions are dealing with the

restitution of stolen art and this is ongoing. Definitions

are being hammered out on how countries and the art

world should approach this. there was also a Commission

on gold. a few mistakes were made by the allies and a

settlement was made in the form of gold to sort this out

at a Conference in london. there is a moral and legal

obligation to pursue claims for survivors as well as those

who perished. unfortunately, there are still major areas

where settlements have not been reached and which

continue to occupy us today. Recognition for those who

suffered and historical correctness are the priorities to

which survivors consider they are entitled. for many,

finance comes after this.

there are many remarkable stories of holocaust

survivors who have contributed enormously to the

development of new industries, sport and politics. i could

not possibly speak about all of them but the story of one

close friend has always moved me. he came here after

liberation from Buchenwald. following rehabilitation, he

managed slowly to build up a business in the clothing

industry. at the same time, he was determined to keep fit

after all his nightmares. he became a weight-lifter and,

much to the joy of us all, he was selected to compete

several times with the British olympic team. he did

extremely well and was presented with several Gold and

Bronze medals from international sport competitions,


including the Commonwealth Games. no-one could have

imagined that, with his background, he would ever be so

fit. another was in our olympic swimming team. i am

amazed again and again how positive many of the

survivors are and seem to have little hatred for what they

went through.

the grandson of the late friedrich flick, Gert

Rudolph flick, was approached as to whether he could

donate funds to start a Chair for human Rights at oxford

university. he offered £400,000 which was accepted until

he insisted that the funds should be called ‘the flick

Centre for human Rights’. this was considered an

outrage. no college could possibly accept. i often

wondered if this was his polite way to reject giving. an

anonymous donor gave the equivalent.

one of the friends of flick suggested that he might

like to join the athenaeum in 1994. i must confess that

when the flick name came up i found it extremely

unpleasant. i did discuss this with the secretary at the

time, Richard smith, who told me that if i made an issue

of the matter i would lose because the majority of Club

members would not want the sins of the father put on

the son. But in Deuteronomy (13/2 in the Decalogue) it

is also mentioned that God will visit the sins of the

fathers upon the second and third generations! i decided

not to make an issue but for many years i felt incredibly

ashamed. i did explain to the secretary that i would not

like the children of hitler to be in our Club. after flick

was elected he only stayed for a few years and i had the


good fortune never to meet him. should i have made a

drama out of this? i have a deep affection for the

athenaeum Club. i continually enjoy wonderful

experiences through the diverse people i meet there. the

last thing i wanted to do was spoil this harmonious

atmosphere.

the work which we do today is also for victims of

genocide worldwide. my organisation held a conference

in the hague where we had 80 representatives from

countries which had suffered genocides. we shared our

experiences and it was deeply moving. it is surely our duty

to use all our experiences to improve the lives of those

who have suffered. “he who saves one life saves all of

humanity” (torah).

This paper was first given as a lecture at

The Athenaeum Club, London (pictured above), in 2011


the Clemens nathan Research Centre, an organisation

dedicated to the promotion of international human rights, is the

research arm of the Consultative Council of Jewish organisations,

a human rights nGo with consultative status at the united nations,

founded in 1946 by the nobel prize laureate René Cassin. its

constituent organisations are the anglo-Jewish association and the

alliance israélite universelle. it is named after Clemens nathan who

is also its first Chairman. alan stephens (former editor at Brill) is

Director of Research and Richard schiffer (aDRg ambassadors)

is secretary. the activities of both organisations have included

holding lectures and conferences, and sponsoring books on human

rights.

since its establishment in 2004, the CnRC has initiated a

number of innovative programmes, including a long-term research

project, in collaboration with the international Bar association and

the Raoul wallenberg institute, lund university, sweden, to

formulate rules of conduct for human rights fact-finding missions.

since february 2005, the CnRC has organised numerous successful

conferences – in lund, on fact-finding; in london, on Religion

and human Rights (with the Commonwealth institute, university

of london), on terrorism and human Rights, on foreign policy

and human Rights, on the freedom of the media and human

Rights; in Geneva on maternal mortality and human Rights; and

in strasbourg at a conference on ‘words into action’ in the

presence of the president of the european parliament and other

distinguished guests. all CnRC conferences generate edited

publications.

the CnRC also organizes periodic René Cassin memorial

lectures. the CCJo delegate at the Council of europe is maître

louis Bloch. a younger members group, the CCJo René Cassin,

is active in london.

Produced by the Clemens Nathan Research Centre

Flat 10, 3 Cambridge Terrace, London NW1 4JL

T: 020 7034 1986 F: 020 7034 1981

www.clemensnathanresearchcentre.org


compensation and restitution for the jewish victims of the holocaust

Documents

jewish organisation

germanjewish refugees

claims conference

batch of jewish slave

wannsee conferencewas

world warathanaeum booklet

independent germany

eastern europe