1,200 Amsterdam Ghetto Survivors Seek Compensation
Dutch Jews were driven out of their professions and forced into ghettos before their deportation to concentration camps.
More than 1,000 people are seeking compensation payments from Germany for living and working in Amsterdam's Jewish ghettos during World War II, according to Dutch national news agency ANP.
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About 1,200 people are seeking the one-time payment of 2,000 euros ($2,713) being offered to people who lived in three parts of Amsterdam that were designated as ghettos during the German occupation, according to the report. The compensation was publicized this week by the Dutch association of Holocaust survivors, known by its Dutch acronym VBV, after it petitioned Germany to expand the recognized ghetto boundaries.
"Dutch Jews were driven out of their professions and forced into ghettos before their deportation to concentration camps," VBV chairwoman Flory Neter told the news agency. "They often did random chores such as sewing bags to feed their families. It wasn’t forced labor but they were coerced to live in the ghettos, so it wasn’t voluntary either."
The German authorities are assessing the claims.
The claims apply to Jodenbuurt in central Amsterdam, the Rivierenbuurt area in the south and Transvaalbuurt in the east, VBV said.
