HOLOCAUST SURVIVORS TO RECEIVE EUR 5,000 EACH IN FIRST INSTALLMENT PAYMENT AS PART OF HISTORIC LUXEMBOURG AGREEMENT ON HOLOCAUST ERA RESTITUTION
Luxembourg Direct Support Payment Program still accepting applications
New deadline – January 31, 2022
The World Jewish Organization (WJRO) is pleased to announce that the Claims Conference has begun to distribute EUR 1,000,000 from the Luxembourg Fund allocated for this purpose to Holocaust survivors who are currently living in or were persecuted in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg at the time of the Shoah. The fund has already approved applicants from 11 countries that applied by the initial deadline of October 15, 2021 – each survivor will receive a first installment payment of EUR 5,000 by the end of November. The second and final payment is expected to be made in March 2022.
To ensure that additional Holocaust survivors have sufficient time to apply for and benefit from the program, the deadline has been extended to January 31, 2022.
“The compensation program is an important acknowledgement by the government of Luxembourg of how the Holocaust was carried out under Nazi occupation and the suffering endured by Jews in Luxembourg,” said Gideon Taylor, Chair of Operations, World Jewish Restitution Organization (WJRO). “We are pleased that survivors will soon be receiving their first payments. We also urge anyone that may be eligible for the program to apply by the January 31, 2022 extended deadline. All survivors will receive equal payments regardless of their application submission date. These funds provide a small measure of justice and will help survivors live their lives with the dignity they deserve.”
The Luxembourg direct support payment program is the result of a historic Luxembourg agreement on Holocaust era restitution that was signed on January 27, 2021 – International Holocaust Remembrance Day – between the World Jewish Restitution Organization (WJRO), the State of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the Jewish community of Luxembourg, and the Luxembourg Foundation for the Remembrance of the Shoah. In the agreement, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg committed EUR 1,000,000 to directly support Holocaust survivors. The funds will be distributed equally in two installments to approved applicants.
“As survivors age, the Luxembourg payment program is especially important,” said Laurent Moyse, Acting President, Luxembourg Foundation for the Remembrance of the Shoah. “Luxembourg’s pledge to provide direct support for Holocaust survivors serves as a profound statement of its abiding commitment to supporting Jews who were persecuted and suffered so much during the Nazi occupation of Luxembourg.”
“The symbolic gesture that this payment program represents will never heal the wounds that I and other Holocaust survivors have suffered as a result of Nazi crimes in Luxembourg and elsewhere, but it is an important chapter in our journey to find a measure of justice,” said Claude Marx, age 87, a survivor living in Luxembourg . “In the past 76 years since the end of the Holocaust, I continue to honor the legacy of those we lost, including my family and friends.”
In addition to the payment program for Holocaust survivors, the agreement also commits dedicated resources to Holocaust memorialization, remembrance, research, and education. The agreement also addresses key restitution issues including dormant bank accounts and insurance, as well as looted art. Click here to read more about the agreement and coverage of the historic agreement signing.
Important Information on the Luxembourg Direct Payment Program
New deadline – January 31, 2022
Eligibility Details:
To be eligible for the program, an applicant must have been persecuted as a Jew by the Nazi regime or their allies at any time from January 1933 to May 1945 and either:
- Currently live in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, or
- Lived in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg at any time from January 1933- May 1945.
Payment Details:
The agreement provides a total amount of EUR 1,000,000, which will be distributed equally to approved applicants. The exact amount to be distributed to each individual can only be calculated when the total number of approved applicants has been determined.
The Claims Conference will be making the total payment in two installments. Anyone who applied by October 15th, 2021 and was approved will receive a partial payment by November 2021 and a second payment by March 2022. Anyone who applies by January 31st, 2022 and is approved will receive the entire payment in full by March 2022.
Application Details:
The application can be found here or by sending an email to LuxembourgFund@claimscon.org
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For media inquiries please contact pr@wjro.org.il
