Czech survivors demonstrate for Holocaust payments

Instead, Kinkel focused on a fund that was created as part of the German-Czech declaration, saying he expected the fund to begin operating in three months.

Jewish leaders complained at the time of the pact's signing that Germany did not comment on the Holocaust in the declaration, which stated that Germany "regrets the suffering and iniquities inflicted on the Czech people."

The fund set forth in the declaration was designed to finance community projects to benefit Holocaust survivors, but does not call for individual compensation.

Germany will provide the fund with about $76 million, and the Czech government will contribute about $12.9 million.

"The fund means nothing, and we don't want it," said Emma Sternova, a 74-year-old survivor who was among the 30 participants at Monday's demonstration, which was organized by the Jewish Association of Resistance Fighters and Soldiers.

Sternova, who lost her immediate and extended family during the war, and fellow survivor Pavla Kovacova, 84, want nothing short of individual compensation.

"We want to receive money so that we can give it to our children and grandchildren," Kovacova said.

German officials are currently negotiating with the Conference on Material Claims Against Germany about compensation payments to Holocaust survivors in Eastern Europe.

In August, the German government and officials of the Claims Conference announced the establishment of a joint commission, which is expected to make its proposals before the end of the year.