Mourning Simon Wiesenthal
Austrian Press Agency (APA) (09/20/05)
Ninety-six year-old Nazi hunter died in Vienna
Vienna Mourning Simon Wiesenthal: The Nazi hunter died early in the morning on Tuesday from multiple organ failure in his Viennese apartment at the age of ninety-six. An official farewell will take place tomorrow at Vienna’s Zentralfriedhof and then the body will be transferred to Israel where the funeral will take place on Friday. Wiesenthal, marked by illness over the last few years, lived a secluded life in his apartment. The news of his death sparked sadness and cut across all camps at home and abroad.
Wiesenthal helped bring more than 1,100 presumably Nazi criminals to justice. They were not all convicted. His greatest find was that of Adolf Eichmann who organized the Endlösung (the final solution) or massive death of the Jewish people. Eichmann was tracked down in Argentina in 1961 and then received the death penalty in Israel. Apart from Eichmann, the most spectacular cases involved Karl Silberbauer, discovered in Vienna in 1963, who had arrested the fourteen-year-old Anne Frank in Amsterdam; Franz Stangl, found in Vienna in 1967, commandant of the concentration camp in Treblinka; and Josef Schwammberger, arrested in South America in 1987, who was the former commandant of the Przemysl Ghetto.
In each case the motto, justice, not revenge, was the focus of Wiesenthal’s search and eventually became the title of his memoirs published in 1988. Probably his most important legacy was the establishment of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in 1977 in Los Angeles with numerous satellites in various cities. These centers have not only focused on the pursuit of Nazi war criminals but also have served as a reminder of the Holocaust and the fight against problems in society such as racism, anti-Semitism and terrorism.
The head of the Wiesenthal Center in Jerusalem, Ephraim Zuroff, who took over Wiesenthal’s work, announced: We will remain true to his spiritual testament and continue the fight with the same decisiveness, Also Wiesenthal’s extensive archive on the Holocaust - the names of the perpetrators and victims which he kept in his files in his Viennese residence - should continue to be used. Various organizations want to establish a ‘Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies’ with access to his collection.
Federal President Heinz Fischer praised Wiesenthal as a part of our modern day history. Atoning for crimes as a contribution to never repeat them has been an important motive behind his work. Federal Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel characterized him as an indefatigable fighter for remembrance. Vice Chancellor Hubert Gorbach praised his noble sense of justice. President of the National Council Andreas Khol expressed that with Wiesenthal’s death an important voice of remembrance and humanity has been stifled.
Head of the Austrian Socialist Party Alfred Gusenbauer said that Wiesenthal stands like no other for the most important victory over the Nazi past. Federal Spokesman of the Green Party Alexander Van der Bellen honored Wiesenthal as a great Austrian and as an immeasurable figure of remembrance. The conscience of the Holocaust was the reference made to him by the Austrian Trade Union’s (ÖGB) President Fritz Verzetnitsch.
The only critical reaction came from the head of the Austrian Freedom Party, Heinz-Christian Strache, who pointed out that there has always been criticism directed toward Wiesenthal’s work. Governor of Kärnten and head of Austria’s Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZÖ) Jörg Haider refrained from giving any official statement.
Vienna’s Archbishop Cardinal Christoph Schönborn said that the efforts made toward getting at the truth and coming to terms with the horror of the past belong undoubtedly to the immense service for which he was not always found to be pleasant. President of the Israelite Religious Community (IKG), Ariel Muzicant, said that truth, justice and reconciliation were the core pillars of his work. He was the symbol of an entire generation which experienced and suffered from the Shoah and, nonetheless, tried to live a normal life, said Muzicant.
Ninety-six year-old Nazi hunter died in Vienna
Vienna Mourning Simon Wiesenthal: The Nazi hunter died early in the morning on Tuesday from multiple organ failure in his Viennese apartment at the age of ninety-six. An official farewell will take place tomorrow at Vienna’s Zentralfriedhof and then the body will be transferred to Israel where the funeral will take place on Friday. Wiesenthal, marked by illness over the last few years, lived a secluded life in his apartment. The news of his death sparked sadness and cut across all camps at home and abroad.
Wiesenthal helped bring more than 1,100 presumably Nazi criminals to justice. They were not all convicted. His greatest find was that of Adolf Eichmann who organized the Endlösung (the final solution) or massive death of the Jewish people. Eichmann was tracked down in Argentina in 1961 and then received the death penalty in Israel. Apart from Eichmann, the most spectacular cases involved Karl Silberbauer, discovered in Vienna in 1963, who had arrested the fourteen-year-old Anne Frank in Amsterdam; Franz Stangl, found in Vienna in 1967, commandant of the concentration camp in Treblinka; and Josef Schwammberger, arrested in South America in 1987, who was the former commandant of the Przemysl Ghetto.
In each case the motto, justice, not revenge, was the focus of Wiesenthal’s search and eventually became the title of his memoirs published in 1988. Probably his most important legacy was the establishment of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in 1977 in Los Angeles with numerous satellites in various cities. These centers have not only focused on the pursuit of Nazi war criminals but also have served as a reminder of the Holocaust and the fight against problems in society such as racism, anti-Semitism and terrorism.
The head of the Wiesenthal Center in Jerusalem, Ephraim Zuroff, who took over Wiesenthal’s work, announced: We will remain true to his spiritual testament and continue the fight with the same decisiveness, Also Wiesenthal’s extensive archive on the Holocaust - the names of the perpetrators and victims which he kept in his files in his Viennese residence - should continue to be used. Various organizations want to establish a ‘Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies’ with access to his collection.
Federal President Heinz Fischer praised Wiesenthal as a part of our modern day history. Atoning for crimes as a contribution to never repeat them has been an important motive behind his work. Federal Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel characterized him as an indefatigable fighter for remembrance. Vice Chancellor Hubert Gorbach praised his noble sense of justice. President of the National Council Andreas Khol expressed that with Wiesenthal’s death an important voice of remembrance and humanity has been stifled.
Head of the Austrian Socialist Party Alfred Gusenbauer said that Wiesenthal stands like no other for the most important victory over the Nazi past. Federal Spokesman of the Green Party Alexander Van der Bellen honored Wiesenthal as a great Austrian and as an immeasurable figure of remembrance. The conscience of the Holocaust was the reference made to him by the Austrian Trade Union’s (ÖGB) President Fritz Verzetnitsch.
The only critical reaction came from the head of the Austrian Freedom Party, Heinz-Christian Strache, who pointed out that there has always been criticism directed toward Wiesenthal’s work. Governor of Kärnten and head of Austria’s Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZÖ) Jörg Haider refrained from giving any official statement.
Vienna’s Archbishop Cardinal Christoph Schönborn said that the efforts made toward getting at the truth and coming to terms with the horror of the past belong undoubtedly to the immense service for which he was not always found to be pleasant. President of the Israelite Religious Community (IKG), Ariel Muzicant, said that truth, justice and reconciliation were the core pillars of his work. He was the symbol of an entire generation which experienced and suffered from the Shoah and, nonetheless, tried to live a normal life, said Muzicant.
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Never Been So Blatantly Voiced Since Hitler
Die Presse (10/31/05)
By Anne-Catherine Simon
Theology. French Cardinal Lustiger on the Relationship of Judaism, Christianity and Islam
Astonishing was the reaction of French Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger to the words uttered by the Iranian President that Israel must be wiped off the map. One has not heard that kind of bold rhetoric for over sixty years - since Hitler, said the former Archbishop of Paris over the weekend during his talks with the press in Vienna. But perhaps it served its purpose in that the leaders of the Muslim countries should now express how they stand to this blatant statement.
Lustiger has been considered for years as a possible successor to Pope John Paul II, and due to his Jewish heritage it would have been a particular sensation. The popular as well as contentious church leader never failed to take decisive positions regarding political issues for example, when he used religion as an instrument for sharply criticizing the Iraqi war. To the question of the Christian foundation of the European Union, he responded by stating that Europe is not a religious entity. Therefore, the entry of Turkey is also possible, if that is what is wished for. Nonetheless, we cannot say that reason alone is sufficient enough to harbor a decision since memories of the past still play a role. The most important thing is to cleanse one’s memory.
Does Judaism Equal Israel?
The European Union connects Jews and Christians, says Lustiger. Frankly, Jews can identify themselves much better with the Europe of today which is no longer defined as purely Christian than with the Europe of the past. What he sees as a real problem is equating Judaism with Israel. The Jewish state and the universality of the mission: This tension is not resolvable.
Lustiger, who always confessed to his Jewish heritage (I am a Jew, and I will remain so), has committed himself for decades to dialogue between the two religions despite meeting with hostility from both sides. To Lustiger it is fully understandable that Pope Bendict XVI didn’t apologize in the Cologne synagogue for past injustices, as many had expected. That is something that has already happened. Dialogue has taken us already one step further. Now there is trust, respect, security and the freedom to say what one thinks as a believer. The Church has proven to the Jews that it is entirely honest.
Lustiger lectured at a conference Sunday on the Catholic Church and Judaism, organized by the Coordinating Committee for Christian-Jewish Cooperation and supported by the foundation, Pro Oriente. The conference was prompted by the 40th anniversary of the Nostra Aetate of the 2nd Vatican Council. In 1965 it brought a new comprehensive reappraisal of Judaism by the Roman Catholic Church. Among other things, the lasting bond with Judaism is honored, the condemnation of the Jewish people for the death of Jesus on the cross was repudiated and every form of anti-Semitism condemned. Is the relationship between Jews and Christians thus written out in full? The Cardinal doesn’t believe so: It is still a beginning.
On Lustiger: Jean Marie Lustiger was born in Paris in 1926 as the son of Polish Jews. His mother died in Auschwitz and he was raised by a Christian family in Orléans, France. In 1940 he converted to Catholicism. He became Archbishop of Orléans in 1979 and, two years later, Archbishop of Paris. In 1983 he was made Cardinal. In 1995 Lustiger was excluded from the celebrations commemorating the Holocaust because, as a christened Jew, he was perceived as a bad example for the Jewish youth and as a symbol of spiritual destruction of Judaism.
By Anne-Catherine Simon
Theology. French Cardinal Lustiger on the Relationship of Judaism, Christianity and Islam
Astonishing was the reaction of French Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger to the words uttered by the Iranian President that Israel must be wiped off the map. One has not heard that kind of bold rhetoric for over sixty years - since Hitler, said the former Archbishop of Paris over the weekend during his talks with the press in Vienna. But perhaps it served its purpose in that the leaders of the Muslim countries should now express how they stand to this blatant statement.
Lustiger has been considered for years as a possible successor to Pope John Paul II, and due to his Jewish heritage it would have been a particular sensation. The popular as well as contentious church leader never failed to take decisive positions regarding political issues for example, when he used religion as an instrument for sharply criticizing the Iraqi war. To the question of the Christian foundation of the European Union, he responded by stating that Europe is not a religious entity. Therefore, the entry of Turkey is also possible, if that is what is wished for. Nonetheless, we cannot say that reason alone is sufficient enough to harbor a decision since memories of the past still play a role. The most important thing is to cleanse one’s memory.
Does Judaism Equal Israel?
The European Union connects Jews and Christians, says Lustiger. Frankly, Jews can identify themselves much better with the Europe of today which is no longer defined as purely Christian than with the Europe of the past. What he sees as a real problem is equating Judaism with Israel. The Jewish state and the universality of the mission: This tension is not resolvable.
Lustiger, who always confessed to his Jewish heritage (I am a Jew, and I will remain so), has committed himself for decades to dialogue between the two religions despite meeting with hostility from both sides. To Lustiger it is fully understandable that Pope Bendict XVI didn’t apologize in the Cologne synagogue for past injustices, as many had expected. That is something that has already happened. Dialogue has taken us already one step further. Now there is trust, respect, security and the freedom to say what one thinks as a believer. The Church has proven to the Jews that it is entirely honest.
Lustiger lectured at a conference Sunday on the Catholic Church and Judaism, organized by the Coordinating Committee for Christian-Jewish Cooperation and supported by the foundation, Pro Oriente. The conference was prompted by the 40th anniversary of the Nostra Aetate of the 2nd Vatican Council. In 1965 it brought a new comprehensive reappraisal of Judaism by the Roman Catholic Church. Among other things, the lasting bond with Judaism is honored, the condemnation of the Jewish people for the death of Jesus on the cross was repudiated and every form of anti-Semitism condemned. Is the relationship between Jews and Christians thus written out in full? The Cardinal doesn’t believe so: It is still a beginning.
On Lustiger: Jean Marie Lustiger was born in Paris in 1926 as the son of Polish Jews. His mother died in Auschwitz and he was raised by a Christian family in Orléans, France. In 1940 he converted to Catholicism. He became Archbishop of Orléans in 1979 and, two years later, Archbishop of Paris. In 1983 he was made Cardinal. In 1995 Lustiger was excluded from the celebrations commemorating the Holocaust because, as a christened Jew, he was perceived as a bad example for the Jewish youth and as a symbol of spiritual destruction of Judaism.
Finding Refuge in Books
Kurier (12/16/05)
NS Restitution: Erwin Rennert, one of the first to receive payments
Books point the way to finding the married couple, the Rennerts. High bookshelves make the tiny one-bedroom apartment in the retirement home in Schönbrunn seem even smaller. It was through books that Erwin Rennert found his way in life. From the time he was young, he read; that is, when his parents weren’t the ones reading to him. That was, until the Anschluss. The Rennerts were a Jewish family.
The eighty year-old man will be one of the first to receive payments from the Austrian General Settlement Fund. In October 1939, two months after the start of WW II, thirteen year-old Erwin and sixteen year-old Silvia were forced to leave. Lea and Pinkas Rennert sent their children to a place of safety. Equipped with transit visas, they escaped via Trieste in order to stay with distant relatives in the U.S. Their parents had no other choice but to stay behind.
America
As a youth in the U.S., Erwin found refuge in libraries. He seemed to have found comfort in books, comfort robbed him by the Nazis. The parents continued to write him until 1942; then the letters stopped.
At the age of sixteen, Erwin ran away from his new home. More than twenty years later, he learned that around the same time his parents had had to leave their home as well. They had been deported from Vienna to Minsk and then murdered. Shortly before the United States entered the war, the eighteen year-old high school drop out was drafted into the army. He was sent to Europe, just in time to meet the right girl in Mannheim, Erwin smiled. His wife, Ruth, smiles back at him lovingly.
Life got better for both of them from there on. They returned to the U.S. in 1947; pretty Ruth convinced her husband to complete high school. He then studied literature and taught at a university. Together they have six sons, and the last one was born in Vienna. They returned because the political climate in the U.S. had worsened: the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Cold War and the nuclear arms race.
"I don’t mean to simplify things, but life was just better in Austria; there was no threat of war, and the country was not a NATO member." It was a pragmatic decision. Times had been bad for his family in Austria, but after he returned, they were better.
Rennert sees payment from the General Settlement Fund as a symbolic gesture, that is, as far as that is possible. " Everybody has lost something or someone. My parents were murdered, and those remain my wounds."
He has tried to ease the pain by writing books about life with his parents and about his years in America.
NS Restitution: Erwin Rennert, one of the first to receive payments
Books point the way to finding the married couple, the Rennerts. High bookshelves make the tiny one-bedroom apartment in the retirement home in Schönbrunn seem even smaller. It was through books that Erwin Rennert found his way in life. From the time he was young, he read; that is, when his parents weren’t the ones reading to him. That was, until the Anschluss. The Rennerts were a Jewish family.
The eighty year-old man will be one of the first to receive payments from the Austrian General Settlement Fund. In October 1939, two months after the start of WW II, thirteen year-old Erwin and sixteen year-old Silvia were forced to leave. Lea and Pinkas Rennert sent their children to a place of safety. Equipped with transit visas, they escaped via Trieste in order to stay with distant relatives in the U.S. Their parents had no other choice but to stay behind.
America
As a youth in the U.S., Erwin found refuge in libraries. He seemed to have found comfort in books, comfort robbed him by the Nazis. The parents continued to write him until 1942; then the letters stopped.
At the age of sixteen, Erwin ran away from his new home. More than twenty years later, he learned that around the same time his parents had had to leave their home as well. They had been deported from Vienna to Minsk and then murdered. Shortly before the United States entered the war, the eighteen year-old high school drop out was drafted into the army. He was sent to Europe, just in time to meet the right girl in Mannheim, Erwin smiled. His wife, Ruth, smiles back at him lovingly.
Life got better for both of them from there on. They returned to the U.S. in 1947; pretty Ruth convinced her husband to complete high school. He then studied literature and taught at a university. Together they have six sons, and the last one was born in Vienna. They returned because the political climate in the U.S. had worsened: the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Cold War and the nuclear arms race.
"I don’t mean to simplify things, but life was just better in Austria; there was no threat of war, and the country was not a NATO member." It was a pragmatic decision. Times had been bad for his family in Austria, but after he returned, they were better.
Rennert sees payment from the General Settlement Fund as a symbolic gesture, that is, as far as that is possible. " Everybody has lost something or someone. My parents were murdered, and those remain my wounds."
He has tried to ease the pain by writing books about life with his parents and about his years in America.
Waiting for Legal Closure
Der Standard (12/12/2005)
By Karin Moser
While the General Settlement Fund is starting with its first payments, the Reconciliation Fund is concluding its activities. Around 132,000 applications by former slave and forced laborers have been dealt with and settled. The following is an interview with Richard Wotava.
Standard: What will happen with the remaining money after the dissolution of the Fund?
Wotava: Two new institutions will be created: The Scholarship Foundation and the Fund for the Future.
Standard: What will the Fund for the Future do?
Wotava: This Fund will take care of the applications of former forced and slave laborers or their heirs which haven’t yet been handled and also continue the humanitarian projects, especially in the field of medicine. This Fund shall also produce scientific research. There is a controversy between the government coalition parties and the opposition. The government parties want the Fund to research not only the NS Regime, but also other forms of dictatorships. The opposition parties want to restrict the Fund to researching the NS Regime.
Standard: What makes more sense?
Wotava: We see a strong link between the NS Regime and Stalin’s dictatorship via the former slave and forced laborers of the Soviet Union, especially those who worked in industries, because they have been transferred from NS slave labor into a penal camp in Siberia or elsewhere after intense interrogation by the Soviet secret police. There is great interest in conducting scientific research of the fate and whereabouts of former slave and forced laborers of the Soviet Union. The work we have done in the Reconciliation Fund should not be lost.
Standard: Can there ever be Reconciliation on the basis of financial compensation?
Wotava: We have made some very interesting experiences with that, especially because we have personally completed a whole series of payments in several countries. We have worked on about 132,000 applications from 60 countries. The feedback in our meetings with the applicants was very positive. They were not only thankful but also very impressed by the fact that we had done all this on a voluntary basis. Besides the financial aspect which brought about a complete change in their lives, many told us: "Do you know what for us is at least as important? You are the first organization which recognizes us as NS victims."
Standard: But it took a long time until this voluntary work became possible. What do you have to say about the many discussions year after year, before the Reconciliation Fund was established?
Wotava: The first twenty years after WW II Austria wouldn’t have been able to pay because the money wasn’t there. After that, it could have been done. Many discussions took place, but nothing concrete came out of them.
Standard: But even after the establishment of the Fund, many of the people were told: Please wait!
Wotava: Yes, we were blocked for seven months because of the lack of legal peace.
Standard: But unlike the General Settlement Fund, the money for the Reconciliation Fund was already there before. Was it difficult to secure the financing?
Wotava: The economy paid into the Fund without any hesitation. We had to intervene in some cases, but in sum, it went very well. The Minister of Finance first paid 100 million Shillings in seed capital, followed by 3.6 billion. He was only willing to pay this second amount following the establishment of legal peace. I remember the day exactly, July 31, 2001. I received a letter from our Federal Chancellor stating that we had achieved legal peace with the dismissal of the last class action suit in New York. Payments could start. We, of course, had many of the lists ready and had verified the names on them. So I could start the same day to have Postsparkasse make transfers in 20,388 cases.
Standard: Why was a prompt payment so important for you?
Wotava: We had already heard doubts about whether we would ever pay, along the lines, ‘We’ll probably get nothing anyway.’ And I understand this skepticism absolutely. We have been waiting for legal peace because it’s not funny to have to act in a vacuum.
Ambassador Wotava (72) has been Secretary General of the Reconciliation Fund since 2000.
By Karin Moser
While the General Settlement Fund is starting with its first payments, the Reconciliation Fund is concluding its activities. Around 132,000 applications by former slave and forced laborers have been dealt with and settled. The following is an interview with Richard Wotava.
Standard: What will happen with the remaining money after the dissolution of the Fund?
Wotava: Two new institutions will be created: The Scholarship Foundation and the Fund for the Future.
Standard: What will the Fund for the Future do?
Wotava: This Fund will take care of the applications of former forced and slave laborers or their heirs which haven’t yet been handled and also continue the humanitarian projects, especially in the field of medicine. This Fund shall also produce scientific research. There is a controversy between the government coalition parties and the opposition. The government parties want the Fund to research not only the NS Regime, but also other forms of dictatorships. The opposition parties want to restrict the Fund to researching the NS Regime.
Standard: What makes more sense?
Wotava: We see a strong link between the NS Regime and Stalin’s dictatorship via the former slave and forced laborers of the Soviet Union, especially those who worked in industries, because they have been transferred from NS slave labor into a penal camp in Siberia or elsewhere after intense interrogation by the Soviet secret police. There is great interest in conducting scientific research of the fate and whereabouts of former slave and forced laborers of the Soviet Union. The work we have done in the Reconciliation Fund should not be lost.
Standard: Can there ever be Reconciliation on the basis of financial compensation?
Wotava: We have made some very interesting experiences with that, especially because we have personally completed a whole series of payments in several countries. We have worked on about 132,000 applications from 60 countries. The feedback in our meetings with the applicants was very positive. They were not only thankful but also very impressed by the fact that we had done all this on a voluntary basis. Besides the financial aspect which brought about a complete change in their lives, many told us: "Do you know what for us is at least as important? You are the first organization which recognizes us as NS victims."
Standard: But it took a long time until this voluntary work became possible. What do you have to say about the many discussions year after year, before the Reconciliation Fund was established?
Wotava: The first twenty years after WW II Austria wouldn’t have been able to pay because the money wasn’t there. After that, it could have been done. Many discussions took place, but nothing concrete came out of them.
Standard: But even after the establishment of the Fund, many of the people were told: Please wait!
Wotava: Yes, we were blocked for seven months because of the lack of legal peace.
Standard: But unlike the General Settlement Fund, the money for the Reconciliation Fund was already there before. Was it difficult to secure the financing?
Wotava: The economy paid into the Fund without any hesitation. We had to intervene in some cases, but in sum, it went very well. The Minister of Finance first paid 100 million Shillings in seed capital, followed by 3.6 billion. He was only willing to pay this second amount following the establishment of legal peace. I remember the day exactly, July 31, 2001. I received a letter from our Federal Chancellor stating that we had achieved legal peace with the dismissal of the last class action suit in New York. Payments could start. We, of course, had many of the lists ready and had verified the names on them. So I could start the same day to have Postsparkasse make transfers in 20,388 cases.
Standard: Why was a prompt payment so important for you?
Wotava: We had already heard doubts about whether we would ever pay, along the lines, ‘We’ll probably get nothing anyway.’ And I understand this skepticism absolutely. We have been waiting for legal peace because it’s not funny to have to act in a vacuum.
Ambassador Wotava (72) has been Secretary General of the Reconciliation Fund since 2000.
A Stolen Life
Kurier (11/16/05)
Today, the National Council of the Austrian Parliament has decided upon advance payments to NS victims from the General Settlement Fund. Historians and lawyers are examining 20,000 individual claims
Silvia wanted to attend Gymnasium but was not allowed to. Silvia wanted to become a tailor, but failed to receive permission. The young woman was not lacking intelligence or ambition; instead, she was lacking a father. He died in 1938. His legacy became her pitfall because he was a Jew. The Nazis classified the girl as a "Grade-1 crossbreed." " As half-Jewish, I was not allowed to take my graduating exam," explained the eighty-two year-old to members of the National Fund.
Rapprochement
Now colleagues of the General Settlement Fund are looking into her case. The old lady filed an application for restitution. She completed page 23 in the section on "Professional and Education-Related Losses." " Many of our applicants are filing under this section, explains the Deputy Secretary General of the General Settlement Fund, Christine Schwab." Her professional career would have been different had she been allowed to complete certain schools. Silvia became a certified tailor, but only after the war. "Restitution can only be a rapprochement, but never true compensation," says Schwab.
By May 2003, some 19,364 applications had been filed with the General Settlement Fund which consisted of 200,000 individual claims ranging from real estate, bank accounts, to insurance policies and professional- and education-related losses. About 16,000 cases have been either researched and completed, or are being processed. A total of 142 employees, lawyers, historians and political scientists are trying to complete the cases as quickly and accurately as possible. Partly it is a race against death since of the seventy percent of all applicants directly affected, only a few are younger than age sixty.
210 million US Dollars are waiting to be paid. Payments can only begin once legal peace has been established and all pending lawsuits against Austria have been dropped. The last suit pending against Austria is about to be rejected.
To disburse payments to the victims as quickly as possible, the Austrian Parliament will confirm today, Wednesday, the possibility of advance payments. Otherwise, it will take even longer until payments can be disbursed because all of the cases need to be clarified. Thus, the total sum will be estimated and a quota calculated. The Chairman of the General Settlement Fund, Andreas Khol, puts the total sum of the claims at 800 Million US dollars. Currently 210 Million US dollars are available, allowing for each applicant to receive approximately a quarter of the claim.
Secretary General of the National Fund Hannah Lessing does not wish to settle for a specific sum just yet: "It is clear that it will be a percentage of the claim."
In the meanwhile, a lot remains to be done. Historians have found applicants having widespread families. The files of twenty-two related applicants spread into claims amounting to one hundred NS victims.
Another case is simpler: Two Jewish sisters were able to escape to Australia via England at the ages of sixteen and eighteen. Their parents had been murdered and their clothing store located at Victor-Adler-Markt liquidated. In addition, the family owned stock and real estate. The historians of the fund successfully located material in the state archive; the Nazis were meticulous bookkeepers and kept track of Jewish property. Ironically, the ones benefiting from that today are the victims seeking justice sixty years later.
Today, the National Council of the Austrian Parliament has decided upon advance payments to NS victims from the General Settlement Fund. Historians and lawyers are examining 20,000 individual claims
Silvia wanted to attend Gymnasium but was not allowed to. Silvia wanted to become a tailor, but failed to receive permission. The young woman was not lacking intelligence or ambition; instead, she was lacking a father. He died in 1938. His legacy became her pitfall because he was a Jew. The Nazis classified the girl as a "Grade-1 crossbreed." " As half-Jewish, I was not allowed to take my graduating exam," explained the eighty-two year-old to members of the National Fund.
Rapprochement
Now colleagues of the General Settlement Fund are looking into her case. The old lady filed an application for restitution. She completed page 23 in the section on "Professional and Education-Related Losses." " Many of our applicants are filing under this section, explains the Deputy Secretary General of the General Settlement Fund, Christine Schwab." Her professional career would have been different had she been allowed to complete certain schools. Silvia became a certified tailor, but only after the war. "Restitution can only be a rapprochement, but never true compensation," says Schwab.
By May 2003, some 19,364 applications had been filed with the General Settlement Fund which consisted of 200,000 individual claims ranging from real estate, bank accounts, to insurance policies and professional- and education-related losses. About 16,000 cases have been either researched and completed, or are being processed. A total of 142 employees, lawyers, historians and political scientists are trying to complete the cases as quickly and accurately as possible. Partly it is a race against death since of the seventy percent of all applicants directly affected, only a few are younger than age sixty.
210 million US Dollars are waiting to be paid. Payments can only begin once legal peace has been established and all pending lawsuits against Austria have been dropped. The last suit pending against Austria is about to be rejected.
To disburse payments to the victims as quickly as possible, the Austrian Parliament will confirm today, Wednesday, the possibility of advance payments. Otherwise, it will take even longer until payments can be disbursed because all of the cases need to be clarified. Thus, the total sum will be estimated and a quota calculated. The Chairman of the General Settlement Fund, Andreas Khol, puts the total sum of the claims at 800 Million US dollars. Currently 210 Million US dollars are available, allowing for each applicant to receive approximately a quarter of the claim.
Secretary General of the National Fund Hannah Lessing does not wish to settle for a specific sum just yet: "It is clear that it will be a percentage of the claim."
In the meanwhile, a lot remains to be done. Historians have found applicants having widespread families. The files of twenty-two related applicants spread into claims amounting to one hundred NS victims.
Another case is simpler: Two Jewish sisters were able to escape to Australia via England at the ages of sixteen and eighteen. Their parents had been murdered and their clothing store located at Victor-Adler-Markt liquidated. In addition, the family owned stock and real estate. The historians of the fund successfully located material in the state archive; the Nazis were meticulous bookkeepers and kept track of Jewish property. Ironically, the ones benefiting from that today are the victims seeking justice sixty years later.