Less than a month remains for U.S. survivors of Nazi persecution to file a claim for reparations from the German government under the Foreign Claims Settlement Commission.
Last week in Washington, U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno announced the Feb. 23 deadline.
The commission stems from an agreement, reached by Germany and the United States in September 1995, under which Germany is to pay reparations to survivors of Nazi concentration camps or “comparable conditions” who at the time were American citizens.
About 250 claims have already been submitted, but it is not known how many of those people are eligible for the reparations.
The 1995 agreement, which excludes reparations for those subjected only to forced labor, also required Germany to pay more than $2 million to about 10 other previously identified Americans.
One of these Americans was Hugo Princz, and Auschwitz and Dachau survivor who fought a 40-year battle for reparations through the U.S. courts and Congress. He had been denied reparations because he was neither a German citizen nor refugee during his three years of internment.
The Foreign Claims Settlement Commission is an independent quasi-judicial agency in the U.S. Justice Department that works to resolve claims against foreign nations.
Claim forms are available by writing to Foreign Claims Settlement Commission, Washington, D.C. 20579, or by calling (202) 616-6975.
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