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Novosti News

15.4.2018. 9:33
Claims conference-
 


Prenosimo dio  intervjua sa ambasadorom  Stuart Eizenstatom (SE) , koji je specijalni "pregovaratelj "  sa njemačkom vladom u ime Claims konferencije i intervju  sa  liderom   Holokaust preživjelih Roman Kentom (RK) koji  je potpredsjednik tima  pregovarača. 


Q: How did you get involved in fighting on behalf of survivors
     Kako ste se uključili u bitku za preživjele 

RK: Six million were murdered. Most of my family was murdered. It’s the same for most of the survivors. How could I not care about this? 

SE: Although I grew up in a household in which my father and other family members served in World War II, I never heard discussion of the Holocaust growing up in Atlanta... 

The passion comes not only from recognizing what could have been done to prevent the Holocaust...     I also learned later that three sisters of my grandfather were murdered in Lithuania.

In 1994..when I served in Brussels as U.S. Ambassador to the European Union, Richard Holbrooke, Assistant Secretary of State for European and Canadian Affairs, asked if I would take on a dual assignment for Holocaust property restitution.

Q: How did you become involved with the Claim Conference’s negotiating team? K ako ste se uključili u pregovarački tim Claims konferencije?

SE: In 2008, the Claims Conference  asked if I would be willing to work as a volunteer – unpaid – to head negotiations with the German government.  

About the same time, Secretary of State Clinton asked me to head the U.S. delegation to the Prague Conference on Holocaust Assets, which 47 countries would attend, as her special representative. 

We negotiated the Terezin Declaration, the first part of which focused on the social needs of survivors and what countries could do to help.. 

RK: When [then Claims Conference President] Rabbi Israel Miller first asked me to join the negotiations team, I didn’t want to have anything to do with Germany. . ..When I said no to Rabbi Miller, he said, “Remember, you’re not doing it for yourself. You’re doing it for the Jewish community and we need you.” So I joined, reluctantly.

...........

Q: What are the most important accomplishments?  Što je najvažnije što se postigli?

SE: The Claims Conference had negotiated pensions, one-time payments and programs dating back to 1952.

In just the last few years, we have negotiated 170,000 one-time paymentsfor Jews who had never received any previous compensation from Germany and now have been recognized for thevery first time...  another 16,000 Holocaust survivors have been added to those receiving pensions. 

But for me, the funds we have negotiated for home care and food arethe most important.  There are 150,000 Holocaust survivors globally who are getting some welfare service subsidized by the Claims Conference. We’ve negotiated over $2 billion but the services – home care, food, medicine, transportation, Café Europa, etc. – that the money buys are lifesaving.  We created a new child survivor program and covered for the first time flight victims who currently live in the former Soviet Union.

Q: Looking ahead, with the current economic troubles in Europe, could anything derail what you’ve been working on? U budućnosti, obzirom na sadašnje ekonomske teškoće u Europi, možete li nam kazati na čemu radite? 

SE:...   But Germany has a special, unique, multiparty agreement that will not allow financial crises and other problems to intrude on its historic responsibilities. And for that, Germany deserves enormous credit. ..  . Our delegation is first rate with passionate effective representatives — we work as one team...... 

Q: Is there a message that you would like to give survivors? Da li imate poruku koju želite dati preživjelima?

SE: My great regret is that we haven’t been able to do more.... As long as I have an ounce of energy left in me, I’m going to try to find every avenue, every vehicle, every institution that will enable me to continue to do belated and imperfect justice.