By AFP
Holocaust survivors and victims' heirs have received $1.24 billion from a Swiss fund set up after a scandal over dormant accounts of Jews killed in World War II, a magazine said Monday. The Swiss Jewish weekly 'Tachles' said the figure was contained in a report by New York judge Edward Korman, who oversees the management of the fund.
Korman's report summed up operations since a landmark 1998 deal between the World Jewish Congress and Swiss banks.
The banks had been accused of keeping money owned by Jews who had hidden funds in secret accounts in neutral Switzerland but then perished in the Holocaust, and of having given heirs the cold shoulder when they tried to track down the money. Under the 1998 accord which was negotiated by the World Jewish Congress, the banks paid a US$ 1.25 billion settlement.
Payouts were then overseen by Korman and the Swiss-based Claims Resolution Tribunal, which wrapped up its operations in 2012. Within the fund, a total of US$ 800 million were destined for account holders and their heirs. According to Korman's report, 'Tachles' said, US$ 726 million have been paid out since then, with US $426 million of that related to claims on 4,600 dormant accounts. In addition, the fund gave a flat-rate sum ofUS $5,000 each to 12,300 claimants whose cases were deemed "plausible but undocumented".
Another goal of the settlement was to provide money to survivors of Nazi German persecution, whether or not they had held accounts in Switzerland. All told, 457,000 Holocaust survivors and heirs have therefore received money from the fund. Among them were 199,000 people who were pressed into forced labor by Nazi Germany, and who received a share of US$ 288 million. In addition, 4,100 Jewish refugees who were turned back at Switzerland's borders during World War II received a total of US$ 11.6 million.
Korman also authorized the payment of a total of US$ 205 million to 236,000 needy victims of Nazi Germany's occupation, notably in the former Soviet Union. No details of the fund's administrative budget have been revealed, but 'Tachles' said that the Claims Resolution Tribunal, based in the city of Zurich, cost US$ 800,000 a month to run.
