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Save up to 70 percent off retail! http://click.topica.com/aaaauXbz8SnrbAjwjxa/uBid ------------------------------------------------------------ __________________________________________________________________________ The Internet Anti-Fascist: Friday, 14 July 2000 Vol. 4, Number 58 (#441) __________________________________________________________________________ Web Sites of Interest: German Economy Foundation Initative Steering Group Conference On Jewish Material Claims Against Germany: Restitution Guide Financial Compensation for Nazi Slave Laborers The Getty Provenance Index Living Heirs Lost Art Internet Database Obituary: Jan Karski, Polish Diplomat, Holocaust Witness -------------------------------------------------------------------------- WEB SITES OF INTEREST: German Economy Foundation Initative Steering Group "Remembrance, Responsibility, and the Future" <http://www.stiftungsinitiative.de/eindex.html> German enterprises were integrated in the government-run war economy under the Nazi regime, and were thus also involved in the wrongs perpetrated by it. Persecution and forced labor were initiated by the Nazi state. Consequently, it was the Federal Republic of Germany as the legal successor of the German Reich that made compensation to most people who suffered persecution. Forced labor existed in various forms under a broad spectrum of working and living conditions. It was used in agriculture and in the municipalities, as well as in virtually all sectors of private industry which were integrated into the war economy. Today, it cannot be a matter to give payments alone for the fact of forced labor. No legal basis exists for claims against German enterprises with regard to forced labor or to injuries consequential upon persecution during the Nazi era. The consequences of the fact that German enterprises were involvedin Nazi wrongs cannot be settled by legal means. However, German enterprises recognize theirmoral responsibility, in particular where forced labor had to be performed under particularly harsh conditions and in cases where enterprises cooperated in discriminating against people who were persecuted on racial grounds during the Nazi regime. Many German firms had research done on their history and published the results. In past decades, many enterprises have made considerable funds available on a voluntary basis to relieve the consequences of past wrongs. At the end of the present century, as a gesture of reconciliation, German enterprises are again prepared to contribute funds to a humanitarian foundation, "Remembrance, Responsibility and the Future", in order to help former forced laborers still living today who in those days were forced to work under particularly harsh conditions, and other people who were victims of the Nazi regime. The Foundation is a voluntary initiative on the part of German enterprises regardless of whether or to which degree they were involved in war economy. It is open and seeks other enterprises to commit themselves to contribute funds in reasonable amounts. Enterprises will make non-recurring, lump-sum contributions to the Foundation. For the Foundation to be established and for the funds to be made available, it is an indispensable prerequisite that the enterprises have full and lasting legal certainty, in other words, that they are safe from legal action in the future. Even in connection with this legal closure desirable legal peace is to be achieved. The founding enterprise furthermore operate on the assumption that the German federal government will establish a federal foundation to complement the Foundation "Remembrance, Responsibility and the Future", which will take care of the forced laborers not covered by the present Foundation, in particular those who worked in agriculture and in the municipalities. Public corporations which have largely been privatized by now may and should - as expected by the founding enterprises - join the Foundation "Remembrance, Responsibility and the Future" with their own contributions. - - - - - Conference On Jewish Material Claims Against Germany: Restitution Guide <http://www.claimscon.org/> "This guide is designed to outline and clarify some of the major current programs for Holocaust survivors and their heirs. More than five decades since the liberation of the concentration camps, a variety of programs offer benefits to victims of Nazi persecution and their heirs. "In the past, the lack of centralized information on these programs, as well as their complicated regulations, left many people frustrated or unaware of benefits for which they might qualify. The information presented is not a definitive or complete statement on the programs and policies of the governments or organizations that provide compensation and restitution. Further, the Claims Conference and others continue to press the appropriate authorities for improvements in these programs as well as for the establishment of additional programs. "The Claims Conference cannot be held responsible for any of the information contained in this brochure. Inclusion of a program in this guide should not be regarded as approval by the Claims Conference or any other Jewish organization of the adequacy or fairness of the program, or of the capability or effectiveness of any organization referred to in the guide. Users of this guide should also be aware that details of the programs and contact information listed are generally based on information supplied to us by other sources and are subject to change at any time. If you are aware of any inaccuracies or omissions in this guide, please contact the Communications Department of the Claims Conference in New York so that we may include the correct information in subsequent editions. "This guide is divided into sections according to the type of program. Readers should be aware that the amount and type of benefit often depends on a number of factors, including the country of origin of the survivor, the nature and duration of the persecution suffered, the current financial situation of the survivor and the amount of past compensation received. To use this guide most effectively, readers may wish to consult both the table of contents and the alphabetical index of organizations. Because the material contained in this brochure is geared primarily toward residents of the United States, information regarding U.S. tax laws on compensation payments and restituted property is provided. However, some information in this guide may be of interest to survivors who reside outside the United States. The Claims Conference plans on publishing a similar guide for the international community of Holocaust survivors in the near future." - - - - - Financial Compensation for Nazi Slave Laborers <http://www.religioustolerance.org/fin_nazi.htm> "During World War II, millions of Jews, Roma (Gypsies), Poles, other Eastern Europeans and people of other nationalities and religions were forced to work under inhuman conditions in Nazi industry as slave laborers. Many did not survive. "Philip Mendlowicz is a Polish Jew who was a slave laborer at Volkswagen. He now lives in North York, ON, Canada. He commented: "They wanted you to be an animal. They didn't care if you fell down sick. They sent you to the death camp. There were always more to take your place." 8 "We have been unable to find any reference of money having been paid in the past as compensation to former slave laborers. Although Germany has paid out nearly $90 billion in restitution to survivors of the Nazi regime, none had apparently been directed to slave laborers. "A final agreement has been reached in which the government and certain industries in Germany will equally finance a $7.5 billion (U.S.) fund which will be dispersed to victims of Nazi persecution." - - - - - The Getty Provenance Index <http://piedi.getty.edu/> "The Getty Provenance Index, a project of the Getty Research Institute, accumulates and disseminates information related to the history of collecting and the provenance of individual works of art. Maintaining several electronic databases as well as nonautomated material on the history of ownership of works of art (primarily European paintings) gathered from sales catalogues, archival records, and museum files, the Getty Provenance Index provides scholars and museum curators with important information about the history of taste and collecting. - - - - - Living Heirs <http://www.livingheirs.com/> "Living Heirs is a not-for-profit cooperative effort by three independent organizations -- Avotaynu, a Jewish genealogy publishing service, Risk International Services, Inc., an insurance archaeology and claim recovery firm, and Ancestry.com, a family history Internet and publishing company. The Living Heirs Project helps heirs of Holocaust victims recover family assets unjustly confiscated by the Third Reich. These groups were brought together by Rafael Guber, Genealogy Consultant to the Simon Wiesenthal Center Museum of Tolerance. "Background "Over the past few years, heirs of Holocaust victims have renewed efforts to recover confiscated assets. Beginning with a class action lawsuit against Swiss banks, this reclamation effort has expanded to include claims against German, Austrian, Swiss, Dutch and other banks, insurance companies, and corporations. "As a result of these efforts, both Swiss and Austrian banks have made settlement offers. Many Jews and other persecuted minorities (or their heirs) whose families lost assets during the Holocaust may have a claim to the $1.25 billion compensation fund established by the Swiss banks or the $40 million fund established by the Austrian banks. Such claims may be valid even if the victims did not have a Swiss or Austrian bank account. It is uncertain how such class action settlements impact the recovery rights of individual heirs who did not have documentation of the assets confiscated from their relatives until after these settlements were reached." - - - - - Lost Art Internet Database In English, German, and Russian <http://www.lostart.de/> "The Lost Art Internet Database is a project of both, the Federal Government of Germany and its Federal States ("Länder"). It registers cultural goods which were transported or stolen because of persecution, especially of Jewish citizens, as a result of World War II or as a result of National Socialism. "The project is realized in co-operation of the Coordination Office and the Institute for Technical and Business Information Systems of the Otto-von- Guericke-University Magdeburg. "The following website categories are available: "Coordination Office "Research "Federal Government and Federal States "Sponsors "Contact " References -------------------------------------------------------------------------- OBITUARY: Jan Karski, Polish Diplomat, Holocaust Witness Holocaust Eyewitness Karski Dies Andrzej Stylinski (AP) 14 Jul 00 WARSAW, Poland -- Jan Karski, a former Polish diplomat who provided early eyewitness accounts of the Holocaust to the West during World War II, has died. He was 86. Karski died Thursday at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C., a university spokeswoman said. The Polish embassy there confirmed that he died of heart and kidney ailments. Born Jan Kozielewski in 1914 in the central industrial Polish city of Lodz, he joined the Polish diplomatic service in 1935 and served as artillery officer in the September 1939 campaign against the Nazi invasion. He was captured by the Red Army after the Soviets invaded Poland from the East a few weeks later, but escaped to join the underground. His excellent memory and courage made him a courier. As an officer in the Polish resistance, he made four runs to the West with reports from underground leaders to the exiled Polish government. He was captured in Slovakia in 1940 and tortured by the Nazi Gestapo, but he escaped with the help of Polish partisans who attacked the prison. In 1942, disguised as a Nazi guard, Karski sneaked into the Izbica death camp in eastern Poland and twice entered the Warsaw Ghetto, where he witnessed mass killing and torture of Jews. He brought his story to the West, briefing political and religious leaders in London and then meeting personally with President Franklin Roosevelt. Karski's report, and pressure from the Polish exiles, led to the Allies' 1942 statement condemning German crimes against the Jews. But in the months that followed, when Karski tried to tell his stories to Allied leaders, they reacted with silence and took no concrete action, Karski said. "Maybe they did not believe, maybe they thought I was exaggerating," he said in a 1995 interview with The Associated Press. "Roosevelt did not show any feelings, did not make any comment," he recalled. "He told me to repeat in Poland that the Allies will win the war and that the criminals will be punished." "Story of a Secret State," a book Karski wrote about the resistance movement, life in occupied Poland and Nazi atrocities, first appeared in 1944 in the United States and became a bestseller. After the war, communist leaders seeking to claim all credit for opposing and ousting the Nazis denied the existence of the Polish underground Home Army, which operated on orders from democratic Poland's government-in-exile in London. Thousands of Home Army fighters were jailed and many were sentenced to death on charges fabricated by the communists. Karski settled in the United States and lectured on international affairs at Georgetown University in Washington. "The entire Georgetown University community is grateful and proud that he chose to share his gifts with us for nearly forty years," the Rev. Leo J. O'Donovan, Georgetown's president, said in a statement. Only after communism fell in 1989 was Karski able to visit his homeland. After that, he divided his time between Poland and a home in Chevy Chase, Md. Karski will be buried at Mount Olive cemetery in Bethesda, Md. His grave will be next to that of his late wife, actress Pola Nirenska, who died in 1992, the PAP news agency said. * * * * * In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. __________________________________________________________________________ FASCISM: We have no ethical right to forgive, no historical right to forget. (No permission required for noncommercial reproduction) - - - - - back issues archived via: <ftp://ftp.nyct.net/pub/users/tallpaul/publish/tinaf/> --- Sponsor's Message -------------------------------------- GET A NEXTCARD VISA, in 30 seconds! Get rates as low as 2.9% Intro or 9.9% Fixed APR and no hidden fees. 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