By : M. Hareli ,June 2019
The Implementation of the German Federal Compensation Act (BEG) half century after its introduction.
Almost 60 years have passed since the German Federal Compensation Act (Bundesgesetz zur Entschaedigung fuer Opfer der nazionalsozialistischen Verfolgung, Bundesentschaedigungsgesetz-BEG) was introduced and approved by the Bundestag in Bonn in 1956. The BEG was a significant landmark in the long patchwork of the German legislation intended to provide a measure of atonement and justice for the crimes of Holocaust and WWII and the consequences inflicted. A year later, in 1957, a complementary Federal Restitution Act was approved (Bundesrueckerstattungsgesetz) , concerning only the restitution of property followed by some other minor amendments and by a series of global settlements with various countries in western Europe. The purpose of these settlements was to pass the responsibility for compensation from Germany's shoulder to the shoulders of the signatory countries. This was similar to the Luxemburg Agreement, placing upon Israel the compensation responsibilities for Holocaust survivors living in the country by the time when the agreement was signed. Hence the BEG remained directed mainly at claimants born or living in Germany, and at those who proved their connections to the German culture. In 1965 the Bundestag passed the Federal Final Compensation Act (Bundesentschaedigungs-Schlussgesetz BEG SG). This was meant to be the last accord in the post-war compensation and restitution legislation. However, the patchwork character remained unchanged and according to the German historian Constantin Goschler it resembles "holes with a system rather than a system with holes". It is obvious, that under these conditions the chances of obtaining a fair measure of justice are limited, being hampered by legal morass and bureaucratic obstacles.
During the decades passing since then, many changes occurred altering radically the conditions prevailing in the past. However the BEG and the ways of putting the law into practice remained rigid and unchanged. Those, who ought to be the main beneficiaries of the law, are all survivor victims, whose health has been inflicted by the cruel crimes of Nazi rule. All are over 70 years old, with some in their nineties. Their numbers have dwindled to 29,800 by the end of 2013 decreasing yearly by 15-20% with their physical and mental health severely deteriorated to critical levels mainly due to the sufferings during the Holocaust. In spite of these facts, their situation under the present BEG rules is intolerable, due the following problems to be urgently addressed:
- 1. The dependency of health deterioration upon the persecution (Verfolgungsbedingte Gesunheitsverschlimmerung)
Too many claims have been rejected on the grounds that a connection between the present health deterioration and the originally recognized impairments cannot be clearly established. Today it is generally accepted, that there exists a very close interdependency of the whole system of a persons health, whether physical or mental. For example, the Israeli compensation authorities clearly recognize diabetes and osteophorosis as being connected with the sufferings endured in the Holocaust. Such approach is fully consistent with the concepts of the modern medicine and should be adopted without delay by all German authorities handling the implementation of BEG.
- 2. Abolishing the age limit of 68 and changing the system of steps determining the severity of health impairment.
At present the severity degree of survivors' health damages is classified by a system of stepwise categories: 25% to 39%, 40% to 49%, 50% to 59%, 60% to 69%, 70% to 79% and 80% to 100%. Such division is unjust to those diagnosed with a percentage within the category, especially when the percentage is close to its upper limit. E.g. it is clear that a person with 39% impairment should receive a rent based on 40% rather than 25%. The Israeli law has adopted a continuous linear system, that is equally fair to all, avoiding the loss of residual percentage points. A similar change in the BEG system is urgently required and it shall be hard to find a moral justification for not doing so.
Another gross problem of injustice is the requirement limiting claims for further deterioration of health after a survivor reaches the age of 68. In such cases the survivor must prove, that an approval of his claim for deterioration will lead to a minimal increment of 30% in his BEG rent. An adoption of the continuous linear system to the degree of health damages, disregarding the age of the claimant, would solve this problem as well. It should be noted that by now, in 2015, all the Holocaust survivors being older than 68 are affected by this issue.
- Revision of the claims based on settlements (Vergleiche)
A part of the survivor's claims instead of being fully approved, have been solved by reaching a settlement with the claimant. Such settlements have in many cases included a clause preventing the possibility of rising any further demands in the future. Those settlements, being reached and signed decades ago under different circumstances and sometimes in situations of hardship or lack of correct information, should be all revised, taking in account the present situation of the claimant and its difference to the past.
- Excusing the recipients of rents from income declarations
Those recognized by BEG as belonging to a higher income class are receiving bigger payments than those who belong to the minimal income class, even if both have the same percentage of health impairment degree. However, this privilege is dependent on the periodical submission of income declarations. Even if it might appear to be justified in the past, when the claimant was younger and could accept work positions with lucrative salaries, this seems to be out of place in the present, when the youngest survivor is over 70. The chances of improving the income at this age are zero and therefore these declarations should be abolished.
A full acceptance of these demands will constitute a long overdue correction of injustice perceived by the recipients of the BEG rent. They all form a relatively small group of elderly and frail persons, decimated by the time to a number of 30,000 only, with their pensions being only a minuscule part of the German fiscal budget. The injustice to them becomes more evident after comparing their lot to the generous conditions of prominent Nazis and their families under the German social laws (e.g. the widows of Heydrich, Himmler, Goering , Streicher, Freyser and the case of Heinz Barth, responsible for the massacre in Oradour, who received payments for his invalidity). True, the present Germany has gone a long way to atone for the crimes of the Nazi past and to help its surviving victims. However, the dimensions of the satanic evil will never be fathomed and only recently an independent committee of historians, appointed by the Federal Ministry of Finance came up with the finding that about 1/3 of the Nazi army was financed from the robbery of Jewish property. Therefore the score of German moral debt to the Jewish people cannot be even until the time in the future, when the last survivor of Holocaust will pass away.