By MITCHELL DANOW
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
September 12, 2000
NEW YORK-Jewish organizations looking for a piece of a historic $1.25 billion
Swiss bank settlement are likely to be disappointed.
Instead, payments from the fund are likely to go solely to Holocaust survivors
or their heirs, according to a document submitted to a U.S. court overseeing the
settlement.
The distribution plan delivered to the court this week sets a Nov. 6 deadline
for responses. On Nov. 20, U.S. District Court Judge Edward Korman, who is overseeing
the settlement, will hold a public hearing to review any comments that have been
submitted.
After that, the court will decide what the actual distribution plan will be, and
claimants will be informed how to submit applications.
The distribution plan earmarks most of the fund-$800 million-to survivors or their
heirs who are holders of dormant World War II-era accounts that they were unable
to recover from Swiss banks.
The plan-citing a report issued last year by a panel that conducted a three-year
audit of Swiss banks-estimates that as many as 26,000 of these accounts probably
belonged to victims of Nazi persecution.
Account holders are the primary recipients of the settlement, which Switzerland's
leading banks first agreed to in August 1998. The settlement was reached amid
allegations that the banks were hoarding the wealth of Holocaust victims.
The distribution plan-drawn up by Judah Gribetz, a court-appointed official known
as a special master-also designates several other beneficiary classes:
Slave and forced laborers who worked for German companies will receive
at least $500 each, plus another $500 after all claims are processed;
Slave and forced laborers who worked for Swiss-owned companies will receive
the same amount. An estimated 100 Swiss firms used up to 5,000 such workers in
Nazi-run plants, mainly in German towns near the Swiss border;
Anyone who was admitted to Switzerland as a refugee during the war and
was subsequently detained or mistreated will be eligible to receive a maximum
of $500. An estimated 3,000 people are expected to file such claims;
Refugees denied entry into, or expelled from, Switzerland may receive
between $1,250 and $2,500. About 17,000 people are expected to file under this
category;
The proposal also earmarks $100 million to compensate those whose property
was looted during the war. Of this, 90 percent will be distributed to Jews, 10
percent to non-Jews.
The fund also designates $10 million to create a Holocaust memorial foundation.
