The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation announced today an additional $4 million in funding for the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference), which will allocate the funds through the Weinberg Holocaust Survivors Emergency Assistance Fund (Holocaust Survivors Emergency Fund). The Weinberg Fund provides a range of emergency services to Holocaust survivors including medical equipment and medications, dental and vision care, transportation, food, and short-term home care.
In 2010, the Weinberg Foundation created the fund with a five-year, $10 million grant to the Claims Conference to support emergency services for Holocaust survivors residing in North America. The additional $4 million grant will now extend such support through 2016.
According to the Claims Conference:
- Of the 500,000 Nazi victims alive today worldwide, approximately 113,000 live in the United States and 15,000 in Canada. The other two large populations of Holocaust victims are in Israel and the former Soviet Union.
- Jewish victims of Nazi persecution living in the U.S. are more likely than other Jewish elderly and other American elderly to be living in poverty. Survey research shows that 25 percent of all Nazi victims live at or below the official U.S. poverty threshold, compared to 5 percent of American Jewish elderly who are not Nazi victims and 9 percent of all U.S. elderly.
- Nazi victims who are poor are also more likely to be disabled. One-fifth of the Nazi victim population in the U.S. is estimated to be poor and disabled.
The Claims Conference represents world Jewry in negotiating for compensation and restitution for victims of Nazi persecution and their heirs. Today, the Claims Conference manages grants made by governments and funders throughout the world, and has a structure currently in place for emergency assistance grants that will ensure the swift and effective distribution of funds for critical services to assist survivors. For 2013, the Claims Conference allocated $305 million to organizations and institutions providing vital services to Holocaust victims in 47 countries.
You can read more about this grant by clicking here.
