Regulation on Payments to Crippled Nazi Victims Enters into Force

Jews and other victims of Hitlerism who were crippled by Nazi maltreatment in concentration camps or jails and who have now filed individual claims for indemnification under the Federal Indemnification Law will now receive compensation under a regulation which entered into effect this month, it was announced here today.

In the more than a year and a half since the law was adopted, this is only the second implementation regulation to it that has been put on the books. It limits benefits to those who, as a direct result of Nazi persecution, suffered physical injuries or damage to their health so serious that their earning capacity has been lastingly reduced by more than 30 percent. Ailments and disorders are not, as a rule, considered Nazi-inflicted if they came to light more than six months after the liberation. The present state of health, no matter how bad, is not significant for a determination of the “casual relationship” between persecution and disability, the new regulation expressly states.

If a former concentration camp inmate qualifies under the restrictive definitions of the new regulation, he is entitled to medical costs. For residents of countries other than Germany, “necessary and adequate medical costs” may not exceed double the amount that would have to be expended for a like purpose in Germany. Travel to Germany in search of treatment is, however, authorized.

“Certified”, invalids are further entitled to a pension as long as their income is less than $35 a month; income above that level is to be deducted from the pension. A lump sum will be made available to cover the period between onset of the disability and the beginning of the pension payment.

Calculation of the pension is predicated on the hypothetical assumption that the crippled Nazi victim held a German civil service position in a grade comparable to his actual social and economic standing. The amount of the, pension allowance is then computed as a percentage of what the German state would grant such an “equivalent” civil servant.

A floor has been established by setting the monthly pension minimum at $24 where the impairment of earning capacity is between 30 and 40 percent, at $30 where it is between 40 and 50 percent, and so on in increments of $6 until a minimum pension of $48 is reached in cases of 70-80 percent invalidity. Crippled Nazi victims with impairment of earning capacity in excess of 80 percent will receive $59.50. The same amount will go to male invalids over 65 years of age or female invalids over 60 whose impairment, irrespective of cause, is classified as more than 50 percent.