Germany expands payments to ghetto laborers

By · December 21, 2007

Germany expanded its compensation of Nazi victims who performed unforced labor performed in the ghettos.

Those who qualify will be able to receive a onetime payment of 2,000 Euros, or about $2,870.

Since 1997, the government has counted voluntary work done by Jews in the ghettos toward its national pension plan and has compensated them through its social security program. But the law has been applied inconstently and has been “overly restrictive,” according to a spokeswoman for the Claims Conference.

The new compensation program changes that.

To qualify for the onetime payment, the victim must have been held in an open or closed ghetto, worked “without force” during this period, and the work must not already have been taken into account for the ZRBG pension.

Those who qualify for the ZRBG pension cannot receive the one-time payment.

The Claims Conference is not involved in these programs, but it has posted guidelines for it on its Web site, at http://www.claimscon.org/index.asp?url=zrbg/notice-1207.