Article74 Magazine

The Palestinians have legitimate claims of restitution against the state of Israel. This statement is morally correct, but is it politically feasible?

In order to be able to answer this question one should to try to learn from the experiences of one of the most successful restitution campaigns, namely Jewish claims against Germany and other European countries since World War II.

The first phase which started practically during the late phases of the war was characterized by direct efforts to have looted valuables returned through the Allies and in some cases from Nazis who wanted, in this way, to buy their freedom. There are no known figures about the extent of valuables returned in this way. Another channel was opened through the reparation conference in Paris 1945/46. The Western Allies decided that the neutral countries would pay a total amount of $50 million of which between 90 to 95% would go for the rehabilitation of Jewish refugees not able to return to their homes. The main benefactor was the Jewish Agency and afterwards Israel, however, not all of the amount was paid in full.   Soon after the conference Sweden, for example, paid 50 million Swedish Krones.  In July 1948, Switzerland paid  20 million Swiss Francs instead of the obligated 50 million. Private claims were not really addressed in this framework.

The exact reason for the 'generosity' (willingness), of the Allies to pay reparations is not very clear, as Jewish organizations at that time were not very powerful. They were not able, and actually did not even try very hard, during the war to put enough pressure on the Allies to take measures to stop the extermination of the European Jewry . In 1944, for example, it was an anti-zionist Rabbi from Bratislava and some military experts of the Haganah who called desperately for the bombing of the railways to Auschwitz, but they did not get any real support.

In 1951, the “Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany” or  “Jewish Claims Conference” (JCC) was founded consisting of 22 different Jewish organizations. This organization was able after very difficult negotiations with West Germany in 1953 to achieve a restitution agreement. This was mainly made possible because of US interests in supporting Israel. Through this arrangement it was also possible for certain categories of persons to present individual claims. Up until 1997 Germany paid $58 billion in US funds to Israel, Jewish organizations and individuals. By 2030 it is expected that an additional $20 billion will be paid.  Jews who worked even for a very short period in Germany before the WWII and paid social insurance, for example, are due still today to get a monthly payment.  Last year the JCC was strongly criticized for corruption which may be inevitable when such enormous sums are involved.

It is important to mention that the process of restitution at the beginning was very difficult and the Germans were everything but cooperative.  Even today as the guilty feeling towards Jews has reached a status of a state religion in Germany, there is more money paid to German war veterans ($7.7 billion in 1996) than to the Holocaust survivors ($840 million in the same year).

In 1992, the World Jewish Restitution Organization (WJRO) was founded in order to present claims in Eastern Europe, but these efforts were not very effective. In 1995, however, the whole situation changed. Through a journalistic 'goose' made in the Israeli newspaper Globes, the Jewish Agency and the World Jewish Congress (WJC) were given the impression that the value of Jewish 'heirless' properties in Switzerland totaled some 7.7 billion Swiss Francs. The two organizations embarked on a very effective campaign, which received world wide media coverage and powerful lobbying in the United States with the active support of Senator Alfonse D'Amato and afterwards that of a few US financiers, mainly that of Allen Hawasi from New York.  Another very important asset was the anti-Jewish prejudice held by negotiating officials of the Swiss banks. Because of this racial disposition and an absolute disregard of Jews the banks believed at the beginning that they could ignore Jewish claims.  However, when the banks discovered that Jewish pressure was more powerful than expected, they ended up overestimating the size of Jewish heirless assets, based on their perception that Jews control the world, especially the financial one.

Through this false estimation the Swiss have had to make one concession after the other, until their leading banks agreed this past summer to a global solution for the Jewish properties in the range of $1.25 billion. This, in addition to an existing 'Holocaust fund', which has to distribute 250 million Swiss Francs among Shoa-survivors. Besides these measures the Swiss established an experts commission to research the role of Switzerland during and after the WWII, its relation with Nazi Germany, and its asylum policy etc. There is also a project to create a so-called solidarity fund, which should help refugee victims, and not only Jews, all over the world.

In the meantime the scope of the Jewish campaign gets wider and wider and now includes many European but also more and more American countries (including now the USA). It is clear, that the success of the leading Jewish organizations is not due to their strong moral stand. On the contrary, it is very obvious that they are not representing the Shoa-survivors but are misusing them for their own political and financial purposes.

For sure there are many lessons, which are relevant for Palestinian restitution claims against Israel. The most important one is very banal, i.e., that unless there is a political leverage, there is hardly any chance of success. It is difficult to imagine a successful media campaign or lobbying efforts in support of Palestinian restitution.  Given the fact that it is difficult to imagine that in the short run the political situation will change dramatically in favor of the Palestinians, a campaign which demands that Palestinians should be recognized as Nazi victims second grade, and as such should be considered for distribution of the restitution monies that the Jewish organizations are now receiving, would have a very good chance of success.  Such a campaign should and can get the support of many progressive Jews all over the world and would, as a combined Jewish-Palestinian effort, receive wide media coverage and public support in Europe and the USA.
Shraga Elam is an Israeli freelance journalist living in Switzerland who has published research on the role of Switzerland and Jewish organizations in WWII.