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Agencies will provide more funds for survivors
BY: MARILYN H. KARFELD Senior Staff Reporter
The Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland is over half way to its annual goal of raising more than $300,000 to assist needy local Holocaust survivors.
That news from Federation President Stephen H. Hoffman coincides with reports that the Claims Conference quietly decided in July to allocate an additional $67 million nationwide over the next three years for home care and other services for victims of Nazi oppression.
After much pressure from survivor advocacy groups and the media, the Claims Conference is also abandoning its controversial 80/20 policy of setting aside 20% of that additional $67 million for Holocaust education and remembrance.
The 80/20 formula has applied to funds the Claims Conference receives from the sale of heirless property the Nazis seized from Jews in the former East Germany. Since 1993, the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, known as the Claims Conference, has devoted 80% of the proceeds from the sale of this property to survivor benefits; the remaining 20% has gone to Holocaust remembrance, research and education.
The Claims Conference will still fund Holocaust education and remembrance programs, but it will freeze that amount at $18 million a year. This represents the amount spent on Holocaust education in 2005, or 20% of the $90 million that Jewish family service associations nationwide received for Nazi victims that year.
In 2006 and 2007, the Claims Conference distributed $100 million to JFSAs from the sale of the heirless property. Allocations will be $110 million in 2008, $122 million in 2009, and $135 million in 2010, says Hillary Kessler-Godin, communications director of the Claims Conference.
In addition, the Claims Conference has allocated an additional $4.9 million for home care in Israel, bringing the total assistance for Israeli victims of the Holocaust to approximately $50 million in 2007. Kessler-Godin declined to label the new funding an overturning of the 80/20 policy.
“The allocations were increased, not changed,” she says. “It’s a decision by the (Claims Conference) board after review of available resources and increasing needs among survivors as they age.”
The Claims Conference welcomes the initiative by the Cleveland Federation to increase funding for local survivors, Kessler-Godin says. “More than 60 years ago, these Jews were abandoned; we must not let that happen again, in their old age. We have one final chance to honor these elderly Jews. In partnership with Federation, the Claims Conference hopes to assist them in the years to come.”
In the last few years, Holocaust survivors and their advocates have railed against the 80/20 split. Holocaust education is a good thing, they say, but it must take a backseat to the basic human needs of survivors, who sometimes have to choose between buying food, prescription medicine or a hearing aid. In the last few years there have been numerous angry calls for more help for Nazi victims.
“The funding formula change is a welcome change,” says the Federation’s Hoffman, who is also former CEO of United Jewish Communities, the Federation umbrella organization. He continues to see merit in both sides of the argument and the need for Holocaust education and remembrance.
“This doesn’t mean you have to stick to a rigid formula,” Hoffman says. “I don’t think it’s just about pressure (from survivor groups), but when people draw attention to an issue and as there are changes in the environment, we have to challenge our underlying assumptions.”
A “sketchy” survey of other Federations indicated that Cleveland is in the “best of class category” in finding extra money for survivors, Hoffman notes. The agency has looked for contributions from a variety of sources, he adds. “Some should be able to come (from the increased funding) from the Claims Conference.”
Sam Hoenig, chairman of the Holocaust Survivors Life Needs Initiative in cleveland, says the Claims Conference is very sensitive to adverse publicity, and articles in The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, along with the CJN and other Jewish newspapers, may have prompted the funding change.
“Whatever the motivation, we’re thrilled,” Hoenig says. “Although we won’t be totally pleased until 100% of those funds are used for survivor needs. There will be plenty of money left over for education and remembrance after the survivors are gone.”
The Survivors Life Needs Initiative alone has raised $150,000, Hoenig says, and some of the money has already been provided to JFSA to help survivors.
JFSA of Cleveland is in the process of formulating a request to the Claims Conference for additional funds for 2008, says Sue Biagianti, JFSA’s director of maturing family services. “We still have unmet needs. We’re very happy they’ve decided to change the funding formula and increase allocations.”
Last year, JFSA received $150,000 in its main grant from the Claims Conference, about the same amount it has received for the last five years, Biagianti says. The money is used for direct survivor needs (prescriptions, small bills, home care), and to pay for social worker salaries.
Paying wages with Claims Conference money infuriates survivors, who feel JFSA’s annual grant from Federation should cover such administrative costs. Biagianti acknowledges the difference of opinion, but says, “There’s no way to provide services without staff. The Claims Conference specifically earmarks the money for staff.”
A year and a half ago, JFSA identified about 250 additional Holocaust survivors in the Cleveland area, primarily from the Russian community, through applications to a one-time food coupon program. Biagianti estimates the agency serves about 950 Cleveland-area Holocaust survivors who have sought out help. Some receive assistance filling out reparations forms, some seek counseling, and others want home care or transportation assistance.
She employs the equivalent of 2-1/2 full-time social workers to help survivors. “It’s a very small number for a lot of people who need assistance,” she notes.
In many ways, survivors in Cleveland are lucky compared with their counterparts in Florida and New York, who have fewer resources and greater needs.
The change in the Claims Conference funding formula is a response to “excruciating public pressure and the facts about the growing needs of survivors, which have not been addressed for years,” says Sam Dubbin, a Miami lawyer who represents survivors.
“Thank goodness the Claims Conference is spending more money on social service needs,” he adds. “I believe this decision should focus attention on the immorality of using the 20% on research and education while survivors have unmet needs.”
A July 2007 article in Ha’aretz reports that the Claims Conference has provided funds for the construction and renovation of nursing homes and hospitals in Israel from monies supposedly earmarked for survivors. While worthy causes, the capital projects also aid people who are not Holocaust survivors, Ha’aretz notes. Less than half of the $1.5 billion the Claims Conference has distributed from the sale of heirless real estate has directly helped survivors, the Israeli newspaper says.
Leo Rechter, president of the National Association of Jewish Child Holocaust Society (NAHOS), a New York-based organization, says, “Everybody is using band-aids to try to cover up a gaping wound. Nobody has ever done a systemwide comprehensive assessment based upon what people need and should get in the way of help. We need a Marshall Plan to say no survivor is going to be suffering without necessities while they live.”
When emergency funds are raised to increase the home care for survivors from “four hours to six, even though people need 12 to 15 hours a week, that’s not a victory,” Rechter adds. “That’s a stopgap, and it’s unacceptable.”
Here in Cleveland, survivor Leo Silberman, president of Kol Israel, describes the additional funds from the Claims Conference as “a little bit late. They finally woke up. It’s maybe 10 to 15 years too late.”
He recalls a Holocaust survivor who asked JFSA to fill a prescription for him. JFSA turned him down, saying it didn’t have the funds. “This is a big sin,” Silberman says.
When he hears Federation is helping Jews all over the world, such as in a recent campaign for Jews in the former Soviet Union, Silberman has one response: “Holocaust survivors are Jewish, too.”
mkarfeld@cjn.org
That news from Federation President Stephen H. Hoffman coincides with reports that the Claims Conference quietly decided in July to allocate an additional $67 million nationwide over the next three years for home care and other services for victims of Nazi oppression.
After much pressure from survivor advocacy groups and the media, the Claims Conference is also abandoning its controversial 80/20 policy of setting aside 20% of that additional $67 million for Holocaust education and remembrance.
The 80/20 formula has applied to funds the Claims Conference receives from the sale of heirless property the Nazis seized from Jews in the former East Germany. Since 1993, the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, known as the Claims Conference, has devoted 80% of the proceeds from the sale of this property to survivor benefits; the remaining 20% has gone to Holocaust remembrance, research and education.
The Claims Conference will still fund Holocaust education and remembrance programs, but it will freeze that amount at $18 million a year. This represents the amount spent on Holocaust education in 2005, or 20% of the $90 million that Jewish family service associations nationwide received for Nazi victims that year.
In 2006 and 2007, the Claims Conference distributed $100 million to JFSAs from the sale of the heirless property. Allocations will be $110 million in 2008, $122 million in 2009, and $135 million in 2010, says Hillary Kessler-Godin, communications director of the Claims Conference.
In addition, the Claims Conference has allocated an additional $4.9 million for home care in Israel, bringing the total assistance for Israeli victims of the Holocaust to approximately $50 million in 2007. Kessler-Godin declined to label the new funding an overturning of the 80/20 policy.
“The allocations were increased, not changed,” she says. “It’s a decision by the (Claims Conference) board after review of available resources and increasing needs among survivors as they age.”
The Claims Conference welcomes the initiative by the Cleveland Federation to increase funding for local survivors, Kessler-Godin says. “More than 60 years ago, these Jews were abandoned; we must not let that happen again, in their old age. We have one final chance to honor these elderly Jews. In partnership with Federation, the Claims Conference hopes to assist them in the years to come.”
In the last few years, Holocaust survivors and their advocates have railed against the 80/20 split. Holocaust education is a good thing, they say, but it must take a backseat to the basic human needs of survivors, who sometimes have to choose between buying food, prescription medicine or a hearing aid. In the last few years there have been numerous angry calls for more help for Nazi victims.
“The funding formula change is a welcome change,” says the Federation’s Hoffman, who is also former CEO of United Jewish Communities, the Federation umbrella organization. He continues to see merit in both sides of the argument and the need for Holocaust education and remembrance.
“This doesn’t mean you have to stick to a rigid formula,” Hoffman says. “I don’t think it’s just about pressure (from survivor groups), but when people draw attention to an issue and as there are changes in the environment, we have to challenge our underlying assumptions.”
A “sketchy” survey of other Federations indicated that Cleveland is in the “best of class category” in finding extra money for survivors, Hoffman notes. The agency has looked for contributions from a variety of sources, he adds. “Some should be able to come (from the increased funding) from the Claims Conference.”
Sam Hoenig, chairman of the Holocaust Survivors Life Needs Initiative in cleveland, says the Claims Conference is very sensitive to adverse publicity, and articles in The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, along with the CJN and other Jewish newspapers, may have prompted the funding change.
“Whatever the motivation, we’re thrilled,” Hoenig says. “Although we won’t be totally pleased until 100% of those funds are used for survivor needs. There will be plenty of money left over for education and remembrance after the survivors are gone.”
The Survivors Life Needs Initiative alone has raised $150,000, Hoenig says, and some of the money has already been provided to JFSA to help survivors.
JFSA of Cleveland is in the process of formulating a request to the Claims Conference for additional funds for 2008, says Sue Biagianti, JFSA’s director of maturing family services. “We still have unmet needs. We’re very happy they’ve decided to change the funding formula and increase allocations.”
Last year, JFSA received $150,000 in its main grant from the Claims Conference, about the same amount it has received for the last five years, Biagianti says. The money is used for direct survivor needs (prescriptions, small bills, home care), and to pay for social worker salaries.
Paying wages with Claims Conference money infuriates survivors, who feel JFSA’s annual grant from Federation should cover such administrative costs. Biagianti acknowledges the difference of opinion, but says, “There’s no way to provide services without staff. The Claims Conference specifically earmarks the money for staff.”
A year and a half ago, JFSA identified about 250 additional Holocaust survivors in the Cleveland area, primarily from the Russian community, through applications to a one-time food coupon program. Biagianti estimates the agency serves about 950 Cleveland-area Holocaust survivors who have sought out help. Some receive assistance filling out reparations forms, some seek counseling, and others want home care or transportation assistance.
She employs the equivalent of 2-1/2 full-time social workers to help survivors. “It’s a very small number for a lot of people who need assistance,” she notes.
In many ways, survivors in Cleveland are lucky compared with their counterparts in Florida and New York, who have fewer resources and greater needs.
The change in the Claims Conference funding formula is a response to “excruciating public pressure and the facts about the growing needs of survivors, which have not been addressed for years,” says Sam Dubbin, a Miami lawyer who represents survivors.
“Thank goodness the Claims Conference is spending more money on social service needs,” he adds. “I believe this decision should focus attention on the immorality of using the 20% on research and education while survivors have unmet needs.”
A July 2007 article in Ha’aretz reports that the Claims Conference has provided funds for the construction and renovation of nursing homes and hospitals in Israel from monies supposedly earmarked for survivors. While worthy causes, the capital projects also aid people who are not Holocaust survivors, Ha’aretz notes. Less than half of the $1.5 billion the Claims Conference has distributed from the sale of heirless real estate has directly helped survivors, the Israeli newspaper says.
Leo Rechter, president of the National Association of Jewish Child Holocaust Society (NAHOS), a New York-based organization, says, “Everybody is using band-aids to try to cover up a gaping wound. Nobody has ever done a systemwide comprehensive assessment based upon what people need and should get in the way of help. We need a Marshall Plan to say no survivor is going to be suffering without necessities while they live.”
When emergency funds are raised to increase the home care for survivors from “four hours to six, even though people need 12 to 15 hours a week, that’s not a victory,” Rechter adds. “That’s a stopgap, and it’s unacceptable.”
Here in Cleveland, survivor Leo Silberman, president of Kol Israel, describes the additional funds from the Claims Conference as “a little bit late. They finally woke up. It’s maybe 10 to 15 years too late.”
He recalls a Holocaust survivor who asked JFSA to fill a prescription for him. JFSA turned him down, saying it didn’t have the funds. “This is a big sin,” Silberman says.
When he hears Federation is helping Jews all over the world, such as in a recent campaign for Jews in the former Soviet Union, Silberman has one response: “Holocaust survivors are Jewish, too.”
mkarfeld@cjn.org
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