Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference)

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Eligibility [Please note: This program has concluded.]

January 1, 2007

The German Foundation established the following criteria for payments for labor:

"Slave Laborers" were persons who were compelled to perform work in a concentration camp (as defined by previous German indemnification legislation), a ghetto, or a similar place of incarceration under comparable conditions. They were eligible for up to €7,669.

"Forced Laborers" were persons who were deported from their homeland to the territory of the German Reich or to a German occupied area and forced to perform work (other than Slave Labor), outside the territory of Austria. They were eligible for up to €2,556.

Payments were made in two installments. The Claims Conference was able to make the maximum allowed payments to eligible applicants.

The Claims Conference was responsible for administering payments to Jewish former slave and forced laborers, except those currently residing in Poland, the Czech Republic, and the republics of the former Soviet Union, whose claims were processed by their respective national Reconciliation Foundations.

In order to prepare for this large logistical challenge, the Claims Conference took steps such as the following:

  • Identified survivors most likely to be eligible
  • Mailed applications to survivors who had received previous compensation and were most likely to be eligible for slave labor compensation
  • Launched an international media and advertising campaign to announce the claims process
  • Engaged a network of 350 local survivor and Jewish organizations around the world that could provide assistance in the application process
  • Contacted 500 homes for the elderly in Israel, asking them to inform residents of the program, and opened nine help centers for survivors throughout the country