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Swiss fund starts paying Holocaust victims
November 18, 1997
Web posted at: 10:07 p.m. EST (0307 GMT)RIGA, Latvia (CNN) -- Riva Shefer, a 75-year-old Jewish survivor of a Nazi labor camp in Latvia, on Tuesday became the first recipient of money from a $200 million Swiss fund set up for Holocaust survivors.
"I feel a great sense of responsibility ... I represent all of the surviving Jews," Shefer said after she received a check for $400, the first installment of a $1,000 payment.
Eighty elderly Holocaust victims in Latvia received payments from the fund, set up earlier this year by Swiss banks and businesses amid a growing chorus of allegations that Switzerland used its neutrality to profit from the war.
Swiss banks were also heavily criticized for not doing enough to track down the holders of dormant bank accounts, which hold funds deposited by Holocaust victims.
CNN's Steve Harrigan reports
About $11 million from the fund has been earmarked for Eastern European Holocaust survivors, who have never received any compensation for their suffering.
Despite the historic payments, many recipients complained the sums were far too small.
"It is four months' payment for my rent, so it is not too much. I can't live on it," said Holocaust survivor Yevgenia Brovska.
Shefer, who lives with her husband in Riga, agreed.
"What I really need is a washing machine because all my life I had to do the washing by hand," she said. "Unfortunately, this sum isn't even enough for a washing machine."
First recipient survived massacre
Shefer survived the Holocaust by slipping away from a column of prisoners being marched to the forest of Rumbula outside Riga, where 25,000 Jews were shot on November 30 and December 8, 1941.
Historians say Rumbula was the second biggest two-day shooting massacre of Jews after the notorious Babi Yar murders in Ukraine, where 33,000 people were mown down by machine guns.
Most of Latvia's pre-war Jewish population of 85,000 was slaughtered during the Nazi occupation of the Baltic state.
Shefer remembers the snowy December night when she stood in line with her mother, grandmother and thousands of other women, waiting to be shot.
"There was a moment when my aunt took us by the hand and we ran away ... (to) a courtyard that was beside us," said Shefer, who was 19.
Her grandmother stayed in line. Hiding in a shed, Shefer heard the column begin to move.
"And as I saw my grandmother who was staying there ... I had a feeling of guilt," she said.
Shefer was sure that she would eventually be killed, but she was also sure of something else.
"We were children and we were taught that good must prevail. We were sure from the beginning that the Germans will not win the war. We were sure we will not survive, but that they will not win. It was clear to us from the beginning."
Payments small, leaders acknowledge
Jewish leaders on Tuesday acknowledged the payments to Shefer and other survivors were small, but said the program was important because it marked the first time Holocaust survivors in formerly communist Eastern Europe received assistance.
For decades, communist governments blocked them from receiving payments from the West, while Soviet authorities largely ignored the survivors.
The fund's officials stressed the payments should be regarded as humanitarian relief, not compensation for their suffering.
"The fund is misunderstood," Swiss Jewish leader Rolf Bloch, the fund's president, said in Riga. "It's not a matter of compensation."
"The dormant (Swiss bank) accounts are a separate issue, and that money will be returned to those are entitled to it," Bloch said. "Sentiment is being voiced that Switzerland has not done enough in these matters ... This is a symbolic start to rectify this."
Hard feelings among victims
However, some victims did not try to hide their hard feelings about the Swiss banks and their dealings with Nazi Germany.
"Swiss financial organizations, not without a push from Jewish organizations, are finally acknowledging their responsibility," said Margers Vesternins, another survivor.
"The world pretended not to see, but the world did see the property of the Jews. They saw it and they grabbed it," she said.
The Latvians were the first to receive payments because the number of survivors is small and logistically manageable. The arrangements for payments have been carried out by global and local Jewish organizations.
Hungary has by far the largest community of survivors and about 20,000 Jews there are expected to receive payments, said Gideon Taylor, vice president of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.
Correspondent Steve Harrigan, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
Related stories:
- Swiss banks publicize more dormant Nazi-era accounts - October 29, 1997
- California asked to lift sanctions on Swiss banks - October 24, 1997
- Swiss banks publish dormant WWII-era accounts - July 23, 1997
- Vatican drawn into scandal over Nazi-era gold - July 22, 1997
Related sites:
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- Simon Wiesenthal Center
- Swiss banks dormant accounts site
- The ITA Pressroom/U.S. Efforts to Seek Justice for Victims of the Holocaust - from the Office of Media Affairs, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce
- Swiss-American Chamber of Commerce
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