Migration Organization to Distribute Money to Holocaust SurvivorsThe Geneva-based International Organization for Migration (IOM) is calling on Holocaust survivors and their heirs to apply for a share in the 1.25 billion US dollar settlement agreed between Jewish groups and big Swiss banks, according to a news release from IOM here Tuesday.The IOM news release said that Swiss Radio International (SRI) will air spots in German, French and Italian several times per day in coming weeks to inform former slave laborers and other surviving victims of the Nazi era of their entitlement to financial compensation. The IOM is one of three organizations so far charged with distributing money from the settlement, which is designed to compensate former slave laborers and other groups of victims of the Nazi regime in Germany. Through its Holocaust Victim Assets Program, the IOM will process applications from non-Jews who were persecuted or targeted for persecution by the Nazis, and were refused entry to Switzerland or who were expelled after being admitted. Claims from people who were forced to perform slave labor for Swiss companies or their German subsidiaries will also be considered. In addition to Jews, Gypsies, Jehovah's Witnesses, homosexuals and physically and mentally handicapped people were targeted for persecution by the Nazis. Two deadlines of August 11 and September 30 have been set for claims from the different categories of victims. The two other organizations charged with implementing the settlement agreement are the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany and the Claims Resolution Tribunal. |
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