Jewish leaders gave advance notice last week they would be unable to attend the meetings. But the Swiss government, joined by the media, lashed out at the absences.
The seven-member executive board of the Swiss Holocaust Memorial Fund, as well as the fund’s 18-member advisory council, was slated to meet in the Swiss capital to approve the distribution to Holocaust survivors of 15 million Swiss francs — some $10.4 million at current exchange rate.
The fund’s officers were also planning to approve the distribution of 2 million Swiss francs — about $1.4 million — to non-Jewish Holocaust survivors, including gays, Catholics and Gypsies.
But no action was taken after the three Jewish board members and the nine councilmembers did not attend the meetings.
Rolf Bloch, president of the Swiss Jewish community who also chairs the executive board, said two board members were absent because of illness.
The remaining absences, he added, were not the result of “any controversy with Switzerland.”
Indeed, one source familiar with the workings of the WJRO said some of the absences were due to differences among Jewish leaders over how some of the funds would be allocated.
The Swiss government attacked the absences, saying they would cause a delay in the distribution of payments.
“These absences defy comprehension since the date for today’s meeting was set by mutual agreement,” the Swiss Federal Council, the nation’s Cabinet, said in a statement issued Monday.
“As a result, necessary help to thousands of elderly victims in need will unfortunately be further delayed.”
The Federal Council called on the WJRO to present its proposals by Sept. 25.
Swiss papers pounced on the absences Tuesday, with one questioning Jewish leaders’ seriousness in efforts to aid Holocaust victims.
Another newspaper suggested that the government drop the WJRO from the fund’s decision-making processes.
The WJRO is headed by World Jewish Congress President Edgar Bronfman, and includes the Jewish Agency for Israel and other international Jewish groups.
The organization has previously locked horns with the Swiss government after spearheading international efforts during the past two years to get the Swiss to confront their wartime past.
Switzerland’s three largest banks created the Holocaust Memorial Fund earlier this year amid allegations that the banks hoarded the wealth of Holocaust victims.
The fund stands at about $116 million. Additional pledges already made by private companies and the Swiss National Bank would bring the total to some $200 million.
At a meeting last week in New York, the WRJO decided to recommend initial payments from the fund of about $1,000 each to Jews living in former Soviet bloc countries — the so-called double victims who suffered under Nazism and Communism and never received reparations from the German government.
The payments were supposed to get final approval in Bern this week.