Group finds itself fighting Jews for Holocaust claims

NEW YORK (JTA) -- Seeing "Schindler's List" two years ago created such a rush of repressed memories for Holocaust survivor Elizabeth Roth that she needed professional help.

"I got a shock in the movie house," said the 72-year-old New York widow, explaining that the film caused her to remember events "I did not want to remember."

Roth, a native of Hungary, said she was a teenager and her mother 46 when the Nazis imprisoned them in Auschwitz-Birkenau from May to December 1944.

The film triggered memories of the forced marches, the dogs that attacked women who did not march fast enough and the steps she took to protect her mother. And she remembered being shot by the Nazis when she was separated from her mother.

"I didn't have a chance to say goodbye," she said. "The soldiers were screaming, the dogs were barking."

The trauma of recalling those harsh memories, coupled with the loss of her husband six years ago, caused the woman to seek counseling from Selfhelp Community Services, an organization with an emphasis on helping survivors.

Roth is among hundreds of New York-area survivors who benefited from Selfhelp programs in recent years by money from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, a group that distributes large sums.

Founded in 1951 to represent world Jewry in negotiations with the German Federal Republic for compensation for Holocaust suffering, it now represents 23 Jewish organizations worldwide.

While world attention is focused on the Swiss Holocaust Memorial Fund that will soon be distributed to needy Holocaust survivors, the Manhattan-based Claims Conference quietly has allocated $100 million in the last two years alone -- more money than it had distributed in its first 45 years combined -- to help needy survivors.

The recent windfall came from the sale of former Jewish property in East Germany, and most has been spent in Israel and the former Soviet Union.

But the Claims Conference has come under fire of late, criticized by some individual heirs who say they should be a higher priority than collective programs for survivors, which the group helps fund.

Officials of the Claims Conference gave an overview of the various restitution programs established by the German government in the last 45 years, the strict limits imposed on eligibility and their battle with the German government to liberalize those rules.

Officials also acknowledge the criticism they have received from survivors in recent years. Many of these survivors do not understand that eligibility restrictions for reparations were imposed by Germany, not the Claims Conference, the officials say.

"There are people who think we represent the German government," said Rabbi Israel Miller, president of the Claims Conference for the past 14 years.

"We do not. We represent the survivors. The mandate of the Claims Conference is to utilize the proceeds of the sales for projects and programs that benefit needy Holocaust survivors."

He added that up to 20 percent of funds are used for research, documentation and education about the Holocaust.

Several recent articles in the bi-weekly Jerusalem Report portrayed the Claims Conference in a less than flattering light, accusing it of preventing Jews from retrieving property in Germany. One survivor was quoted as complaining that he was being compelled to "fight Jews to get back property confiscated by the Nazis.

Officials of the Claims Conference insist they are working on behalf of survivors, not against them, and strive for compassion in the painful task of distributing dollars to compensate for untold anguish.

After German reunification in 1990, the government adopted a law allowing people to recover property that had been nationalized by the former Communist government in East Germany. About 10 percent of the property belonged to Jews.

The Claims Conference successfully argued that Jewish property which had been sold under duress or was confiscated by the Nazis from 1933 to 1945 should also be included. The Conference was named by the German government as successor of heirless or unclaimed Jewish property or the property of dissolved Jewish communities.

The German government set a deadline of Dec. 31, 1992, to reclaim all property. Miller said his organization publicized it widely, though critics disagree.

Jews who failed to file their claim on time, such as the man who spoke of being compelled to "fight Jews," are upset that Germany is recognizing the stake of the Claims Conference.

But Claims Conference officials said that rather than shut the door on these Jews, they are giving them a share of the money derived from the sale.

The officials said the amount paid to individuals is on a sliding scale based on the value of the property when it was sold. All of the proceeds from the sale of property that sold for less than $66,000 is to be given to those Jews.

"We're talking about 400 [Jews] who missed the deadline and who have now come to us and said give us back the property," said Greg Schneider, director of allocations and special projects for the Claims Conference.