Worldwide legal and diplomatic efforts are ongoing to secure restitution of Holocaust-era assets for Holocaust victims and their heirs. It is imperative that outstanding issues pertaining to restitution be resolved as speedily as possible, in the interests of providing payments to survivors while they are still living, and while this compensation can have a direct impact on the quality of their lives. The JCPA and its member agencies, working in cooperation with the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany and other Jewish organizations such as local Jewish Family Service offices, are serving an important role in coordinating communal responses and outreach to survivors and their families. The need for such efforts will likely intensify as new settlement agreements and claims processing procedures are announced.

This next phase of the restitution process will raise serious questions regarding the allocation of "heirless proceeds," i.e., the portion of settlement dollars that will remain after payment of direct claims to survivors and heirs. Proposals for use of these monies include the establishment of a fund to provide long-term home health care for elderly survivors, a concept for which the JCPA has expressed support, and grants to fund international Holocaust education or more general Jewish education. The Jewish community will be challenged to resolve these questions in a manner that is both sensitive to the needs of survivors and mindful of our collective responsibility to preserve the memory of the Holocaust. Holocaust survivors must play a direct role in the resolution of issues affecting Holocaust assets recovery, particularly unpaid insurance policies, and efforts to obtain resources for the needs of the survivor community, such as long-term health care.

Simultaneous to ongoing financial restitution efforts, the United States government has embarked on a process to investigate its own history with respect to the handling of wartime assets. This laudable endeavor, which is also being undertaken by several other implicated foreign governments, is imperative in the development of a complete and accurate historical record with respect to the world’s behavior during the Shoah and immediately thereafter. The work of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Holocaust Assets in the United States serves as an important model for other nations in confronting deeply troubling chapters in wartime history. The JCPA applauds continued efforts by the United States government, both in investigating its own past and also in its ongoing efforts to facilitate a speedy and just conclusion to negotiations with corporations, banks, and others.

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