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A Plan for Allocating Successor Organization Resources

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A Plan for Allocating Successor Organization Resources A Plan for Allocating Successor Organization Resources Report of the Planning Committee, Conference On Jewish Material Claims Against Germany June 28, 2000 25 Sivan 5760 1 Rabbi Israel Miller, President, Conference On Jewish Material Claims Against Germany 15 East 26 Street New York, New York Dear Israel, I am pleased to enclose A Plan for Allocating Successor Organization Resources, the report of the distinguished Planning Committee which I have had the honor of chairing. The Committee has completed a thoughtful ten-month process, carefully reviewing the issues and exploring a variety of options before coming to the conclusions contained in this document. We trust that you will bring these recommendations to the Board of Directors of the Claims Conference for review and action. Through this experience, I have become convinced that the work of the Claims Conference is not adequately understood or appreciated. I hope that this report and the results of this planning process will help dispel the confusion about the past and future achievements of the Claims Conference. No amount of money can compensate for the destruction of innocent human beings and thriving communities or the decimation of the Jewish people as a whole by the Nazis. We can try to use available resources - specifically the proceeds of the sale of communal and unclaimed property in the former East Germany - to respond to the most critical needs related to the consequences of the Shoah. This is what the enclosed Plan tries to accomplish. I want to thank the members of the Committee who came from near and far for their attendance and commitment, and for the high quality of their participation. The staff of the Claims Conference, led with great distinction by Gideon Taylor, made a significant contribution to our work. Jack Ukeles, our consultant prepared valuable material, facilitated our discussions, and drafted this report. And finally, I am deeply grateful to you for your leadership in this effort and the work of the Claims Conference. The entire Jewish people are in your debt. Professor A. Leo Levin, Chairman, Planning Committee Conference On Jewish Material Claims Against Germany Philadelphia, June 26, 2000 2 The Planning Committee Leo Levin, Chairman Abraham Hirchson University of Pennsylvania Law MK, Chairman School Parliamentary Committee for the Return of Jewish Property Nina Bassat President Roman Kent Executive Council of Australian Chairman Jewry American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors Moshe Bejski Supreme Court Justice, retired Michael Koll-Nesher Chairman, Massua Chairman Irgun Olej Merkas Europa Cobi Benatoff President Ben Meed European Council of Jewish President Communities American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors Julius Berman Claims Conference Counsel Michael Melchior Kaye, Scholer, Fierman, Hays & Minister Handler Ministry of Israeli Society and World Jewish Community Abraham Biderman Vice President Sallai Meridor Agudath Israel World Organization Chairman The Jewish Agency for Israel Nicolae Cajal President Israel Miller Federation of Jewish Communities in President Romania Claims Conference Menachem Elon Alexander Osovtsov Supreme Court Justice, retired CEO, Vice President Russian Jewish Congress Noach Flug Secretary-General Marlene Post Centre of Organizations of Holocaust Hadassah, The Women's Zionist Survivors in Israel Organization of America, Inc. Ben Helfgott Moshe Sanbar Chairman Chairman '45 Aid Society Holocaust Survivors Centre of Organizations of Holocaust Survivors in Israel 3 Alexander Schindier Israel Singer President Secretary General Memorial Foundation World Jewish Congress Michael Schneider Jeff Solomon Executive Vice President President Joint Distribution Committee Andrea & Charles Bronfman Philanthropies Anita Shapira Tel Aviv University Adolph Steg Chairman Alliance Israelite Universelle Planning Committee Consultant: Dr. Jack Ukeles 4 Contents I. Introduction A. Background B. The Planning Process C. The Planning Committee D. Work Process II. Allocation Issues III. Recommendations A. Background B. Allocation Principles C. Funding Principles D. Allocation Criteria Appendices 1 An Estimate of the Current Distribution of Victims of Nazi Persecution 2 Projection of the Population of Victims of Nazi Persecution, 2000- 2040 3 Projection of Successor Organization Revenue 4 Needs For Successor Organization Funds 5 Submissions to the Committee 6 Announcements and Press Releases 5 I. INTRODUCTION A. Background The Claims Conference has three areas of responsibility: • It is the international umbrella organization representing world Jewry in negotiations for compensation from the German and Austrian governments and other entities related to the Holocaust. • The Claims Conference also is an operating agency that administers compensation funds and recovers Jewish property. • The Claims Conference allocates funds to institutions that provide social welfare services to surviving victims of Nazi persecution and preserves the memory and lessons of the Shoah. It is the third function - the allocation function - that is the focus of this report. B. The Planning Process This report documents the results of a ten-month planning process to help the Board and professional leadership of the Claims Conference to develop principles for allocating resources among a range of competing, legitimate needs. As the "successor organization," the Claims Conference is responsible for the allocation of resources from the sale, in the former East Germany, of Jewish communal property and the unclaimed property of individual Jews. In virtually every public and community allocation process, where legitimate needs typically exceed available resources, disagreements about the use of resources define a series of allocation issues or choices. The Claims Conference faces agonizing choices among valid claims for the use of these resources. The complexity of these choices is underscored by the individual and community trauma associated with the murder of innocent Jewish victims. The pain associated with the Shoah and the sense of individual and collective abandonment expressed by surviving victims of Nazi persecution weighs heavily on the allocation process. While there is no completely objective standard for making such painful and difficult choices, a systematic and open process can assemble and integrate relevant information, explicate appropriate values, and create a forum within which reasonable people can come to agreement about a fair and balanced allocation. 6 C. The Planning Committee A blue-ribbon Planning Committee guided the planning process. The President of the Claims Conference, Rabbi Israel Miller, selected its members to represent a cross-section of the leadership of the global Jewish community.1 The committee met for three intensive all-day meetings - in November in New York City; in March in Jerusalem; and in June in New York City. At the first meeting committee members were introduced to each other; reviewed the committee's mandate and work plan; reviewed a profile of recent allocation history; and most important, shared each other's perspectives on the committee's mandate in an atmosphere of mutual respect and with a cooperative spirit. At the second meeting, the committee reviewed and discussed reports on the number, characteristics and geographic distribution of surviving Nazi victims; considered what resources were likely to be available from the sale of property; examined a projection of the probable number of surviving Nazi victims in the future, discussed the allocation issues that the Committee needed to resolve; and discussed general principles of allocation that might be applicable.2 The focus of the third meeting was a presentation on the world-wide needs of Nazi victims; a discussion of allocation principles and criteria; and a series of committee decisions about a set of allocation recommendations to be transmitted to the Board of Directors of the Claims Conference. D. The Work Process In support of the Committee's work, and working with the professional staff of the Claims Conference, the consultant: interviewed key informants representing a range of relevant constituencies and viewpoints; analyzed previous allocations data; collected, analyzed and adjusted existing information about the number and characteristics of surviving victims of Nazi persecution; projected the future population of Nazi victims; estimated net revenue from sale of communal property; interviewed experts and collected information about needs for services and programs; and identified allocation issues and possible allocation principles and criteria drawing on key informant interviews and committee discussions. Furthermore, the Committee reviewed submissions from interested parties. These submissions arose ouhof the official press announcement of the establishment of the Committee, as well as requests for submissions in mailings to the Board of Directors of the Claims Conference, letters to interested parties, 1 The members of the Committee are listed on the inside cover of this Report. 2 The term "Nazi victim", as used in this Report, refers only to Jewish victims. 7 and a public announcement in "Update", the newsletter of the Claims Conference. II. ALLOCATION ISSUES Allocation issues are the questions that the Planning Committee sought to answer or resolve. They include philosophical as well as practical questions: 1. To whom does the Successor Organization property belong? 2. What needs should be eligible for the resources of the Claims Conference
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