Holocaust victims who fled to Iran fight courts for compensation

The so-called Tehran children, now in their 70s, are bitter. The name refers to a group of 836 Jewish children who fled Nazi-occupied Poland for Siberia in 1939 and finally reached pre-state Israel, via Tehran, in 1943. But they have never seen a penny of the billions in reparations that Germany paid Israel after the Holocaust, even though the 1953 reparations agreement awarded each survivor $1,500. And now, they say, many of them are dying while their suit against the state drags through the courts.

The suit was filed in 2002. The state argued that under the reparations agreement, only survivors who arrived in Israel after 1947 were entitled to the $1,500 payments - which, according to the suit, would now be worth some NIS 70,000. Later, the state also argued that the reparations were not meant to fund payments to individuals at all, but only programs to help survivors rebuild their lives.

In 2007, the Tel Aviv District Court finally rejected both arguments and ruled in the plaintiffs' favor. The state then appealed to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court held its first hearing on the case in March 2008 and its second a year later. For the elderly plaintiffs, this foot-dragging has been devastating.

"We filed suit in the name of 273 people, of whom 10 percent have already died and another 5 percent are on the way," said Avraham Nancel, one of the plaintiffs.

The Justice Ministry said the court is due to issue its ruling soon.