Holocaust survivors invited to claim share of Swiss settlement
A major information drive is underway to advise Holocaust survivors and their heirs how to claim a share of $1.25 billion settlement by Swiss banks. The campaign was launched in the US and Israel after a New York court appointed four groups to process the claims.
Hundreds of thousands of claims are expected from holders of dormant Holocaust-era accounts in Swiss banks, as well as from former slave labourers and other victims of Nazi persecution.
Some 560,000 people have already enquired about settlement, and will receive eligibility forms to submit claims. In addition, information centres are opening in areas with high concentrations of Holocaust survivors, such as Tel Aviv.
Claimants have until September to submit applications for a share of the $1.25 billion settlement agreed between Swiss banks and Jewish organisations.
Almost 65 per cent of the money – some $800 million – has been earmarked for holders of dormant Holocaust-era accounts who were unable to retrieve their assets after the war.
“We’re talking about people depositing money, and counting on being able to draw on it,” said Rabbi Israel Miller of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims against Germany, one of the four groups appointed to administer the settlement.
The remainder of the money is to be divided between former slave labourers and people who were denied entry or expelled from Switzerland during the war.
The ongoing controversy surrounding the settlement surfaced again on Tuesday, when a court in New York decided to put back an appeal hearing by opponents of the settlement, which was originally scheduled for June 25.
No new date has yet been set to hear the appeals, most of which concern the way in which the money is to be divided among potential claimants.
Burt Neuborne, who represents US claimants and was one of the chief architects of the settlement, criticised the court’s ruling as “irritating and frustrating”.
He said it was insupportable that there was still no firm timetable for hearing appeals a full nine months after the New York district judge, Edward Korman, declared the settlement binding.
Neuborne said he would push for a new hearing date to be set as soon as possible. He said a lengthy delay could hold up payments due to be made in the next few months to needy Holocaust survivors in eastern Europe.
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