he saw no need for "any apologies,
certainly, for the war itself," President Clinton's Defense Secretary, William Cohen, similarly opined:
"Both nations were scarred by this. They have their scars from the war. We certainly have ours." 7
The German government sought to compensate Jewish victims with three different agreements signed
in 1952. Individual claimants received payments according to the terms of the Law on Indemnification
( Bundesentschädigungsgesetz ). A separate agreement with Israel subsidized the absorption and
rehabilitation of several hundred thousand Jewish refugees. The German government also negotiated
at the same time a financial settlement with the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against
The Holocaust Industry: THE DOUBLE SHAKEDOWN
http://www.geocities.com/holocaustindustry/chapter_3.html (2 of 30) [23/11/2000 15:47:43]
Germany, an umbrella of all major Jewish organizations including the American Jewish Committee,
American Jewish Congress, B'nai Brith, the Joint Distribution Committee, and so forth. The Claims
Conference was supposed to use the monies, $10 million annually for twelve years, or about a billion
dollars in current values, for Jewish victims of Nazi persecution who had fallen through the cracks in
the compensation process. 8 My mother was a case in point. A survivor of the Warsaw Ghetto,
Majdanek concentration camp and slave labor camps at Czestochowa and Skarszysko Kamiena, she
received only $3,500 in compensation from the German government. Other Jewish victims (and many
who in fact were not victims), however, received lifetime pensions from Germany eventually totaling
hundreds of thousands of dollars. The monies given to the Claims Conference were earmarked for
those Jewish victims who had received only minimal compensation.
Indeed, the German government sought to make explicit in the agreement with the Claims Conference
that the monies would go solely to Jewish survivors, strictly defined, who had been unfairly or
inadequately compensated by German courts. The Conference expressed outrage that its good faith
was doubted. After reaching agreement, the Conference issued a press release underlining that the
monies would be used for "Jewish persecutees of the Nazi regime for whom the existing and proposed
legislation cannot provide a remedy." The final accord called on the Conference to use the monies "for
the relief, rehabilitation and resettlement of Jewish victims."
The Claims Conference promptly annulled the agreement. In a flagrant breach of its letter and spirit,
the Conference earmarked the monies not for the rehabilitation of Jewish victims but rather for the
rehabilitation of Jewish communities. Indeed, a guiding principle of the Claims Conference prohibited
use of monies for «direct allocations to individuals." In a classic instance of looking after one's own,
however, the Conference provided exemptions for two categories of victims: rabbis and "outstanding
Jewish leaders" received individual payments. The constituent organizations of the Claims Conference
used the bulk of the monies to finance various pet projects. Whatever benefits (if any) the actual
Jewish victims received were indirect or incidental. 9 Large sums were circuitously channeled to
Jewish communities in the Arab world and facilitated Jewish emigration from Eastern Europe. 10
They also subsidized cultural undertakings such as Holocaust museums and university chairs in
Holocaust studies, as well as a Yad Vashem showboat pensioning "righteous Gentiles."
More recently, the Claims Conference sought to appropriate for itself denationalized Jewish properties
in the former East Germany worth hundreds of millions of dollars that rightfully belonged to living
Jewish heirs. As the Conference came under attack by defrauded Jews for this and other abuses, Rabbi
Arthur Hertzberg cast a plague on both sides, sneering that "it's not about justice, it's a fight for
money." 11 When
certainly, for the war itself," President Clinton's Defense Secretary, William Cohen, similarly opined:
"Both nations were scarred by this. They have their scars from the war. We certainly have ours." 7
The German government sought to compensate Jewish victims with three different agreements signed
in 1952. Individual claimants received payments according to the terms of the Law on Indemnification
( Bundesentschädigungsgesetz ). A separate agreement with Israel subsidized the absorption and
rehabilitation of several hundred thousand Jewish refugees. The German government also negotiated
at the same time a financial settlement with the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against
The Holocaust Industry: THE DOUBLE SHAKEDOWN
http://www.geocities.com/holocaustindustry/chapter_3.html (2 of 30) [23/11/2000 15:47:43]
Germany, an umbrella of all major Jewish organizations including the American Jewish Committee,
American Jewish Congress, B'nai Brith, the Joint Distribution Committee, and so forth. The Claims
Conference was supposed to use the monies, $10 million annually for twelve years, or about a billion
dollars in current values, for Jewish victims of Nazi persecution who had fallen through the cracks in
the compensation process. 8 My mother was a case in point. A survivor of the Warsaw Ghetto,
Majdanek concentration camp and slave labor camps at Czestochowa and Skarszysko Kamiena, she
received only $3,500 in compensation from the German government. Other Jewish victims (and many
who in fact were not victims), however, received lifetime pensions from Germany eventually totaling
hundreds of thousands of dollars. The monies given to the Claims Conference were earmarked for
those Jewish victims who had received only minimal compensation.
Indeed, the German government sought to make explicit in the agreement with the Claims Conference
that the monies would go solely to Jewish survivors, strictly defined, who had been unfairly or
inadequately compensated by German courts. The Conference expressed outrage that its good faith
was doubted. After reaching agreement, the Conference issued a press release underlining that the
monies would be used for "Jewish persecutees of the Nazi regime for whom the existing and proposed
legislation cannot provide a remedy." The final accord called on the Conference to use the monies "for
the relief, rehabilitation and resettlement of Jewish victims."
The Claims Conference promptly annulled the agreement. In a flagrant breach of its letter and spirit,
the Conference earmarked the monies not for the rehabilitation of Jewish victims but rather for the
rehabilitation of Jewish communities. Indeed, a guiding principle of the Claims Conference prohibited
use of monies for «direct allocations to individuals." In a classic instance of looking after one's own,
however, the Conference provided exemptions for two categories of victims: rabbis and "outstanding
Jewish leaders" received individual payments. The constituent organizations of the Claims Conference
used the bulk of the monies to finance various pet projects. Whatever benefits (if any) the actual
Jewish victims received were indirect or incidental. 9 Large sums were circuitously channeled to
Jewish communities in the Arab world and facilitated Jewish emigration from Eastern Europe. 10
They also subsidized cultural undertakings such as Holocaust museums and university chairs in
Holocaust studies, as well as a Yad Vashem showboat pensioning "righteous Gentiles."
More recently, the Claims Conference sought to appropriate for itself denationalized Jewish properties
in the former East Germany worth hundreds of millions of dollars that rightfully belonged to living
Jewish heirs. As the Conference came under attack by defrauded Jews for this and other abuses, Rabbi
Arthur Hertzberg cast a plague on both sides, sneering that "it's not about justice, it's a fight for
money." 11 When
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