JFS LA Awarded $18.7 Million for Holocaust Survivors

The funds are earmarked to support care and provide services for frail and vulnerable Holocaust survivors, the Claims Conference announced in a statement.

Jewish Family Service LA (JFS LA) was awarded $18.7 million from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference) as part of a $720 million allocation to more than 300 social welfare organizations globally.

The funds are earmarked to support care and provide services for frail and vulnerable Holocaust survivors, the Claims Conference announced in a statement.

The organization also announced it is allocating nearly $47 million in social welfare services in Ukraine to support Holocaust survivors in the face the country’s war with Russia. 

“We are proud to announce this significant allocation at a time when these funds are critical, due to the age, poverty and increasing disability of our waning survivor population; and as they also continue to face the ongoing uncertainty and threat of COVID-19,” Gideon Taylor, president of the Claims Conference, said. “We know these funds [will] provide vital support during these difficult times.” 

The allocations are distributed to social welfare organizations in regions where significant numbers of survivors live to ensure vital services, such as homecare, medical care, emergency assistance and food are available. According to the Claims Conference, funds for these vital services provide a critical lifeline to frail, elderly Holocaust survivors in need around the world, enabling them to live out their remaining days in dignity that were stolen from them in their youth.

“Jewish Family Service LA’s partnership with the Claims Conference makes it possible to provide robust services to nearly 900 survivors in LA,” JFS LA CEO and President Eli Veitzer said. “Their support funds over 500,000 hours of homecare annually, emergency assistance for everything from dental care and medication to help with utility bills and a team of social workers providing comprehensive care management.” 

The Claims Conference said that these funds constitute one of the largest allocations from any grant-making organization globally in one year, and the largest amount ever allocated by the Claims Conference in a single year. It estimates that the funds will reach approximately 120,000 survivors.  

“Funds negotiated by the Claims Conference are used to finance life-sustaining social services for needy survivors of the Shoah around the globe,” Marian Turski, an Auschwitz survivor and member of the Negotiations Delegation said in a statement. “In my home country of Poland, for example, I was able to see for myself the lasting impact these services had for survivors during the past two years, especially under the conditions of the rampant pandemic,” he added.

AS A RESULT OF NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE CLAIMS CONFERENCE SINCE 1952, THE GERMAN GOVERNMENT HAS PAID MORE THAN $90 BILLION IN INDEMNIFICATION TO INDIVIDUALS FOR SUFFERING AND LOSSES RESULTING FROM PERSECUTION BY THE NAZIS. 

Founded in 1951 by representatives of 23 major international Jewish organizations, the Claims Conference negotiates for and disburses funds to individuals and organizations and seeks the return of Jewish property stolen during the Holocaust. As a result of negotiations with the Claims Conference since 1952, the German government has paid more than $90 billion in indemnification to individuals for suffering and losses resulting from persecution by the Nazis.