The West German Federal individual indemnification program is proceeding so slowly that many Jewish victims who apply for its benefits die before their cases are settled, it was revealed here in an analysis of 20, 000 pending indemnification cases.
The study, completed by Kurt Grossman, expert on German indemnification , disclosed that 40 percent of the applicants are “priority cases” — aged, ill and those in need. The average case handled by the Federal Government takes between two and four years before an applicant gets even part of his claim, Mr. Grossman established.
He noted that of the more than 500, 000 cases submitted to the indemnification offices in the United States zone of German by April 30, 1954, only 136,000 had been settled, 70,000 favorably. He underscored the fact that the indemnification program, which is expected to handle 700,000 applications before it is completed, is not likely to settle its business by 1962, as it is supposed to, if it takes four years to settle 136,000 cases.
Stressing the need for speeding up the program, Mr. Grossman pointed out statistically that many of the applicants will have died before obtaining any benefits if the program continues to lag.
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