Central and Eastern European Fund: Overview & History

Katarzyna receives compensation from the Central & Eastern European Fund, and also received a payment from the Program for Former Slave and Forced Laborers. Now 81 years old, she suffers from rheumatism and problems with her circulatory system. She also requires dental treatment. The 30 hours of homecare help each month “makes it easier to live, and to write,” Katarzyna says.

Katarzyna receives compensation from the Central & Eastern European Fund, and also received a payment from the Program for Former Slave and Forced Laborers.

The Claims Conference has approved over 33,000 Holocaust survivors for payment from this fund and has paid a total of approximately $948 million.

After intensive negotiations with Germany, the Claims Conference reached an agreement in 1998 that would allow some of the most persecuted Nazi victims in Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union to receive compensation for the first time. This agreement was negotiated for survivors whose living conditions were very different than in the West.

The eligibility criteria for the Central and Eastern European Fund (CEEF) are the same as the Article 2 Fund, on the premise that all CEEF applicants meet the financial hardship criteria. Recipients are paid €600 per month.

The Claims Conference intensively pressed the German government for a number of years to increase CEEF payments, as the cost of living in the region has risen substantially. On January 1, 2013, CEEF payment amounts became the same as those from the Article 2 Fund, a long-sought goal of the Claims Conference.

The Claims Conference is continually negotiating with Germany to expand the eligibility criteria and payments for the CEEF and Article 2 Fund.

Please note: The amount of CEEF compensation is set by the German government and is a fixed Euro amount. Currency exchange fluctuations between the Euro and other currencies will affect the amount of compensation payments received when the Euro is converted into local currencies.