A Holocaust survivor recently called Paula Simon, executive director of the Milwaukee Jewish Council for Community Relations, puzzled about why he had received two different registration numbers for receiving compensation funds from the same program.
Another survivor, a woman, last week called Simon to ask why she received an acknowledgment letter about her compensation claim, but her survivor husband didn’t receive his from the same program.
Since February, Simon told The Chronicle, she has been in contact with some 50 local survivors, their family members or heirs who all have one thing in common — confusion about procedures, duplications of forms or letters, and assorted other issues in obtaining payments from programs for which the survivors are eligible.
In all instances, she has been able to have the problems resolved through her contacts at the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, she said.
The specific source of the confusion at present is the Program for Former Slave and Forced Laborers, a project of the Foundation “Remembrance, Responsibility and the Future” [sic], based and funded in Germany. The program is being implemented by the Claims Conference.
For this program, the Claims Conference has received about 180,000 applications and returned about 125,000 acknowledgments, each with a registration number, as of Aug. 3, according to Simon. The original application deadline was Aug. 11; but it has been extended to Dec. 31.
Simon said several factors are confusing the process. For one, there are several different ways of applying to the program.
Some qualifying people already receive payments from other compensation programs — such as “Article 2,” which Simon described as a “hardship” fund. These other programs have provided a short form for applying to the former-slave-forced-laborer program.
People who don’t receive funds from other programs have to complete a longer form, which takes more time to process. Among other issues, according to Simon, workers have to confirm the survivors’ stories, which has already been done for participants in other programs.
But sometimes, said Simon, people by mistake fill out both forms, and so receive two registration numbers. Sometimes, as in the case of the woman mentioned previously, one spouse is receiving money from Article 2 but the other is not, and the former’s application is processed faster.
Added to this is the large number of programs now existing and based in different countries — like Switzerland and Austria. Some survivors mix them up, or receive payments from one but not others.
These programs also have different application deadlines and qualifications, and they pay different amounts of money ($1,000 to $4,400 with possibly more later) in different ways (by direct deposit or check; at once or over time).
The different programs can take different amounts of time to process applications. The German former-slave-forced laborer program, according to Simon, “is taking much longer to process the claims than originally anticipated.”
Finally, the German program and the Swiss Slave Labor Class 1 Compensation program are using the same application forms. Moreover, their process times differ. The Swiss program likely will pay before the German program, said Simon.
Survivors and their families and heirs seeking help, clarification or more information should call Simon at 414-390-5735. She emphasized that they should not try to call the Claims Conference on their own; as community representative, Simon can have such matters handled more efficiently.
Some recent immigrants from the former Soviet Union may be eligible for this program. They, too, should contact the MJCCR for more information and application assistance, said Simon.
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