Gov't: Company restoring Holocaust victims' property must pay for survivors' welfare - Haaretz

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Tue., September 04, 2007 Elul 21, 5767

Israel Time: 09:23 (EST+7)

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Last update - 06:30 04/09/2007

Gov't: Company restoring Holocaust victims' property must pay for survivors' welfare

By Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz Correspondent

The government is demanding that the company charged with restoring Holocaust victims' property begin to transfer funds for survivors' welfare, while the company insists on completing the search for heirs before distributing funds for other purposes.

"The company has collected millions of shekels, why don't they start paying it to help survivors?" asked Noah Flug, chairman of the Center of Organizations of Holocaust Survivors in Israel.

Two months ago, the Company for Location and Restitution of Holocaust Victims Assets released the first list of Holocaust victims who owned real estate and funds in British Mandate Palestine before WWII.

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So far the company has received some NIS 100 million - some NIS 60 million from the custodian general and the rest from Bank Leumi. The funds held by the custodian general, Jewish National Fund, Israel Lands Administration, banks and others are estimated at NIS 1.5 billion or more. People involved in the retrieval process believe that the heirs to most of the assets will not be located, leaving at least 70 percent of them with no claimers.

Two weeks ago, the government and survivors' organizations agreed on increasing the stipends for survivors with money from the state budget. But no budget was found for "second circle" survivors - those who fled Nazi-occupied areas, and never lived in ghettos or camps. These stipends are estimated at NIS 500 million a year at least.

Recently the Prime Minister's Office and treasury decided to demand that the company start transferring funds to finance the increased stipends for the "second circle" survivors.

The chairman of the company's board of directors, Avraham Roth, objects.

"It's money we receive by law. It belongs to Holocaust victims and there are close to two million heirs in Israel. It belongs to the victims and their heirs, not to the survivors," Roth said. "It's chutzpah to say that those who were murdered in Auschwitz are responsible for the survivors. The government shouldn't solve its financing problems at the expense of Auschwitz victims. Let the government take care of the survivors from its own budget."

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1.	Who`s in charge of this?!	07:20	\|	Esther	04/09/07

2.	Mr. Roth- where are your ethics?	07:36	\|	a survivor`s child	04/09/07

3.	Holocaust property	09:03	\|	Linda	04/09/07

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