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France Urged to Aid Its Orphans of War
FORWARD, OCTOBER 20, 1995 By BRETT KLINE SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT PARIS—Nazi-hunter Serge Klars-feld is quietly preparing to propose a draft law that would provide a monthly pension for Jews orphaned by Vichy and French collabora-, tionist deportations of their parents. Please turn to Page 9 Continued from Page 1 to Nazi death camps in World War II, the Forward has learned. Mr. Klarsfeld hopes to present the plan directly to France's president, Jacques Chirac, by the end of January. He is also making a quick visit to New York next week, during which he will discuss formulation of the law with the president of the World Jewish Congress, Israel Singer. The pension would be the first group retribution ever paid to France's Jewish population for war crimes committed during the Vichy period. The call for such a plan comes in the wake of Mr. Chirac's July 16 speech acknowledging governmental responsibility for complicity in the Nazi genocide, the first such admission ever made by a French leader. Since that speech, Mr. Klarsfeld has received hundreds of letters and phone calls from survivors in France, Israel and America, many asking how reparations claims can be presented to the French government. 'Moral' Claim "I believe the most important thing is obtaining a pension for some 10,000 to 15,000 Jewish war orphans, many of whom are retired or near retirement today," Mr. Klarsfeld told the Forward. "Although some may not need it or ask for it, others are living on modest means and could use the income. I want to show that Vichy wronged these people emotionally and materially." Such a step, he adds, "would not shock the French people," who are apprehensive about a rollback of public services due to a government austerity program, because its focus would be "on human beings dramatically affected by the war. Tracking down and demanding material goods would have a different impact." Mr. Klarsfeld points out that after the war, tens of thousands of French Jewish survivors did file claims for lost property and won it back on an individual basis. No group claims on behalf of Jews have ever been filed in France, however, in part because, unlike some countries, France does not recognize ethnic and religious minorities' as legal bodies. "Our position, based on Chirac's declaration, is a moral one, which is why we are examining only a pension plan," says Henri Hadjenberg, head of the CRIF, the French Jewish umbrella group, suggesting that he is concerned about critical reaction if Jews press for too much. "The CRIF has no plans for any material demands on the French government. That was not the purpose of Chirac's speech." Mr. Klarsfeld's proposal is modeled on an existing pension law that applies to French political prisoners, or internes politiques, incarcerated by Vichy and the Nazis — a category to which French Jews sent to the gas chambers were never considered to belong. The proposal, a draft of which was obtained by the Forward, calls for a monthly stipend of 3,000 francs (about $600), which, according to estimates, would cost the French treasury dose to $100 million a year. Mr. Klarsfeld says that Jewish war orphans have not been sufficiently compensated by an executive order issued six years ago by the War Veterans and Victims Ministry, which ruled that any French Jew who, as a child, spent three months or more during the .war in a Jewish community foster home is eligible for an interne politique pension. Although some 300 French Jews have beeh granted such status, it is no substitute, Mr. Klarsfeld argues, for a general pension plan, especially because many of the thousands of children who passed through such homes remained for only a few days. |
