JFCS continues to provide assistance with reparations applications to Holocaust survivors who may qualify for:

GG12: Claims Conference Home Care Program –Through this new fund, survivors may be eligible for home care services provided by JFCS' Seniors•At•Home program. Contact Seniors•At•Home intake department at 415-449-3700.

ZRBG Pension – Survivors who lived and worked in Nazi-controlled ghettos may be eligible for ongoing pensions from the German government. The definition of "work" is being broadly interpreted by the German courts. Survivors who prepared meals, swept streets, cleaned homes, worked in factories (outside of the ghetto but were forced to return to it at night), and performed other tasks are encouraged to apply. Widows and widowers of those who lived and worked in ghettos are also encouraged to apply.  

GGWP Ghetto Compensation Fund – Ghetto survivors may be eligible for a one-time payment of 2,000 euros (about $2,500) for “non-coerced” work during the period they lived in Holocaust-era ghettos. The Shanghai Ghetto is included in this program, and the application is short. Germany has signed an order ending the prior deadline and will continue to allow survivors who did “voluntary” ghetto work to apply for compensation under the German Ghetto Work Program.

Hardship Fund –
Hardship Fund Area Expanded – A one-time 2,556 euros sum (about $3,200) may be paid by this Claims Conference-managed program for certain Jewish Nazi victims from Eastern Bloc countries meeting eligibility criteria. (Prior Hardship Fund recipients may not re-apply.)

As of January 1, 2012, victims who may now be eligible include those who fled between June 22, 1941, and January 27, 1944, from areas of the Soviet Union that were generally up to 100 kilometers from the most easterly advance of the German army (Wehrmacht) but were not later occupied by the Nazis. They include Jews who fled from Moscow and Stalingrad during these dates. Eligible victims also include those who fled Leningrad after June 22, 1941, but before the siege that commenced in September 1941.

Unborn Victims – Germany has clarified that the Hardship Fund will process applications from applicants who were in utero at the time of their mother’s persecution.

Article 2 Fund –
Article 2 Fund Liberalization – The Article 2 Fund is a Claims Conference-managed reparation fund providing ongoing monthly payments—paid quarterly—to eligible Holocaust survivors. The Claims Conference has again negotiated reduced eligibility requirements for receiving a monthly pension of 300 euros (about $380) through the Article 2 Fund. New rules now include victims who lived in ghettos, in hiding, or under false identity in Nazi-controlled areas for 12 months. It also includes Nazi victims who were in concentration camps for even very short periods.

New Article 2 Fund Category – Eligible survivors 75 years of age and older who were in a ghetto between three and 12 months may be entitled to a special monthly pension of 240 euros (about $300). This liberalization now allows inclusion of those who endured the Budapest Ghetto—the last major group of ghetto survivors who have yet to receive pensions.
Article 2 Fund programs are open to survivors who are not getting German B.E.G. fund payments (Wiedergutmachung) and meet eligibility guidelines.
Those previously denied should request a claim re-opening for re-evaluation under the new criteria.

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