IOM reports on applications for compensation from former forced laborers (02/25/01)

IOM reports on applications for compensation from former forced laborers

WASHINGTON - Persons who were forced laborers under the Nazi regime are entitled to claim financial compensation through the International Organization for Migration (IOM) under a new German law establishing a foundation to compensate them. As of February 6, 126,842 non-Jewish claimants from over 40 countries have contacted IOM; 6,342 of these potential applicants reside within the United States and Canada. IOM Offices in Berlin, Brussels, Geneva, Paris, Rome and Washington are receiving the majority of inquiries worldwide.

IOM was asked by the government of the Federal Republic of Germany to be one of seven partner-organizations of the new German federal foundation called Remembrance, Responsibility and Future (Erinnerung, Verantwortung und Zukunft). IOM believes a number of program claimants may be some of the very first migrants ever assisted by IOM, as the organization was created in 1951 to assist displaced persons after World War II.

IOM's role is to process claims and to disburse monies to non-Jewish victims living anywhere in the world with the exception of claimants in Poland, the Czech Republic, Ukraine, Belarus, Estonia, Moldova, Latvia, Lithuania, the Russian Federation and the former republics of the Soviet Union. In these countries claimants will be taken care of by other partner-organizations. Jewish claimants will be assisted by the Jewish Claims Conference.

A breakdown by ethnicity of those persons residing in Canada and the United States who have so far applied to IOM for compensation follows: Ukrainians, 52 percent; Poles, 30 percent; Italian, 6 percent; Dutch, 3 percent; Russian, 2 percent; other, 7 percent.

Compensation will be made from a German federal fund (for which 10 billion DM ($5 billion U.S.) has been allocated - established and signed into by the German government on August 12, 2000. German industry and government will each contribute 5 billion DM to the total package.

Compensation can be made to those persons:

detained in a concentration camp or detained under comparable conditions in some other prison camp or ghetto and subjected to forced labor;
deported from their native country to the 1937 territory of the German Reich or to a region it occupied and who were subjected to forced labor in an industrial, commercial or public sector enterprise or who were detained under conditions other than those named above or were subjected to prison-like conditions or exceptionally hard living conditions.

Former prisoners of war do not qualify under the German Forced Labor Compensation Law.

The surviving spouse or children of a potential claimant who has died on or after February 16, 1999; or if none, the grandchildren or siblings; or if none, heirs named in a will are entitled to file a claim and to payment in equal shares. Applications for payment must be made individually as stipulated in the foundation act.

The deadline for applications is August 11. Qualified persons are asked to register their names and addresses contact information with IOM as soon as possible. Original documents should not be sent. IOM staff will guide applicants through the claims procedure; IOM assistance and claims handling is free of charge.

To help claimants, 20 toll-free IOM helplines are in operation worldwide (Belgrade, Berlin, Bratislava, Brussels, Luxembourg, Bucharest, Budapest, Buenos Aires, Geneva, The Hague, Helsinki, Ottawa, Paris, Pretoria, Rome, Sarajevo, Skopje, Sofia, Vienna, Washington). Some 120,000 posters, 300,000 brochures and leaflets in 23 languages are being distributed in 30 target countries with the highest number of expected claims. An IOM website has been set up to provide claimants with comprehensive information and the claim form.

Non-Jewish claimants residing in North America (or the Caribbean) should contact IOM Washington at 1-866-433-5187 (toll free).

The International Organization for Migration may also be contacted by mail, 1752 N St. NW, Suite 700, Washington, DC 20036; fax, (202) 862-1879; or e-mail, [email protected].

IOM headquarters in Geneva may be contacted at: P.O. Box 71, 1211 Geneva 19, Switzerland; telephone, 41 22 717 9230; fax, 41 22 798 61 50; e-mail, [email protected].

For more information on this program, the other partner organizations or IOM offices, consult IOM's website: www.compensation-for-forced-labour.org.

Ethnic breakdown of claimants in North America
who have applied to IOM for compensation as of February 6, 2001

Ukrainian 52%
Polish 30%
Italian 6%
Dutch 3%
Russian 2%
Other 7%

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