World Jewish News

Singer presses eastern European countries over Holocaust compensation and restitution

US Jewish leaders have launched a new campaign aimed at pressuring central and eastern European countries to live up to their promises to compensate Holocaust survivors and to return stolen property to the families of those who perished at the hands of the Nazis. "These countries have avoided living up to their promises with a whole range of excuses and some governments have even dismissed our repeated attempts to get them to act," Rabbi Israel Singer, chairman of the World Jewish Congress, told the Israeli newspaper "Ha'aretz". According to Singer, the issue has never been more urgent, with the number of Holocaust survivors dwindling by the day. A series of meetings is to take place this week in New York between Jewish leaders and foreign ministers and diplomats from the eleven countries which still have not dealt with the issue. Singer, who was closely involved in negotiations with the German government over compensation for forced laborers and with Swiss banks, will lead the Jewish side at these meetings.

Источник: worldjewishcongress.org