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Wednesday, November 09, 2005
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COMPENSATION (for Holocaust Victims)
In this context, the term compensation is inappropriate because financial
compensation for the murder of 6 million Jews, among them 1.5 million children,
is an oxymoron. Up till the year 2000, Germany paid out a sum of $60 billion.
But dividing this sum (which many considered too high) by 6 million shows that
each life is worth just $10,000.
The more correct term for compensation is reparations and damages.
In 1951, German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, a Catholic, publicly
acknowledged Germany’s guilt for Nazi crimes. But he dismissed the idea of
collective guilt. In 1952, the Luxembourg Treaty was signed between Germany
and the State of Israel. More accurately referred to as the Claims Conference,
it served as an umbrella organization for Diaspora and Israeli Jews claiming
reparations from Germany. About $1.75 billion of Germany’s payment pertaining to
Holocaust victims with no heirs was given to the State of Israel as the
inheritor.
However, this compensation was only for Jews who were citizens of West
Germany prior to 1933. East Germany refused to pay anything on grounds that
“capitalists do not deserve any compensation, not even Jewish capitalists.”
Therefore, the claims of East German Jews weren’t made until 1989 when the
Berlin Wall came down.
Before the Nazi takeover, there were 585,000 Jews in Germany. Only 15,000
survived the Holocaust, so the German government had few obligations. Most
survivors were from Eastern Europe. Because they weren’t Germans, they received
nothing from the German government until 1952, when the Claims Conference
granted another $270 million.
In Israel, 61 Knesset (parliament) members voted for the agreement, while 50
were opposed because they wanted nothing to do with the Germans.
Ties between Israel and West Germany warmed up in 1960 when David Ben Gurion,
Israel’s first prime minister, met Adenauer at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New
York. Since then, the two countries have developed a strong relationship and
friendship.
In 1988, the German government allocated another $125 million, enabling
remaining Holocaust survivors to receive monthly payments of $290 for the rest
of their lives.
Compensating the Jewish people for Nazi war crimes brought great economic
blessing to West Germany. By contrast, East Germany, which was unwilling to
shoulder its share of the responsibility, became impoverished. “And I will
bless those who bless you [Israel], and the one who curses you I will curse”
(Genesis12:3; 24:35; Numbers 24:9).
Photo: At the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York Adenauer and Ben Gurion make the
impossible possible
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