33 Spring 2023 of a survivor. It would also not be able to allow the extension of legal definitions beyond the agreed upon guidelines between the Federal government and the Jewish Claims Conference.19 This important change made by the Federal government, as well as the support of the ex-lex solution, constituted the first legal basis for solving one of the most daunting questions regarding individual compensation. The collapse of the Soviet Union and the fall of the Berlin Wall brought an end to the historical embargo on compensation payments to Holocaust survivors who lived in these territories. The outstanding issue of compensation payments to Holocaust survivors from Central and Eastern Europe, still unresolved at the fall of the Iron Curtain, had to be settled. The German Unification Agreement constituted the legal structure for solving this issue. This constitutional agreement mainly addressed the issue of property restitution in East German territories. The Jewish Claims Conference was also granted the status of successor organization, enabling it to claim Jewish-owned properties prior to the war. Moreover, this structure enabled the creation of the Article II agreement, allocating for the first-time pensions to Holocaust survivors, defined as such under Article V to the BEGSchluß (importing that legal definition). This allowed the Federal government to find an ex-lex solution for the administration of a new program for monthly compensation payments to ghetto, KZ and labor camp survivors. The solution under this system was regulated under administrative law, enlisting the JCC to run the program as administrator, following the guidelines agreed upon with the Federal government. This facilitated a simpler track for filing claims and limited administrative issues regarding implementation of the BEG or BEGSchluß. The ongoing negotiations between the Federal government and the Jewish Claims Conference enabled recognition of new groups of survivors, thus paving the way for a quicker administrative process that granted them a monthly compensation payment. This mechanism, introduced by the Article II fund, resulted in a simplified structure, as well as a universal pension system. These universal pensions were not calculated individually, were not based on individual persecutions and the survivor’s post-war economic situation, and thus as of 1993 contributed to the establishment of a worldwide program allocating payments to tens of thousands of survivors. It is noteworthy that in 2007, based on the legal agreement creating Article II, the Jewish Claims Conference urged the Federal German government to not only address individual compensation, but also provide services needed by Holocaust survivors, such as home care. Since more Holocaust survivors are now in need of more accessible medical support, this became a paramount issue throughout the annual negotiations between the Federal German government and the Jewish Claims Conference. Since then, the JCC has created new programs that better assist Holocaust survivors to meet their needs, going beyond the material needs already covered by the compensation programs.20 German Industry Contributes to the Compensation Efforts One of the most fascinating legal developments that unfolded is the role of German industry in compensating Holocaust survivors and slave laborers of Slavic background (Ostarbeitern) through separate, non-state backed programs. As early as the 1960s, some German companies created compensation programs to supplement existing Federal German BEG and BEGSchluß state-backed compensation arrangements. This is novel, as these arrangements are not an outcome of international law obligations undertaken by Chancellor Adenauer in the early 1950s. Some German industrialists claimed then, and still claim today, that the Jewish leaders’ attempt to pressure companies to make amends and admit to their wrongdoing under the Nazis, and their subsequent call for additional compensation on behalf of Holocaust survivors and former Jewish slave laborers, are unjust demands for what was already provided by the state. The Holocaust era litigation in the 1990s, following the U.S. Foreign Sovereign Immunity Act of 1976 that authorized civil lawsuits against countries, gave rise to major litigation issues, most particularly regarding Swiss bank accounts and insurance companies. The combination of political pressure by some state comptrollers, such as 19. Wiedergutmachung Regelungen zur Entschädigung von NSUnrecht, available at https://bundesfinanzministerium. de/Content/DE/Downloads/Broschueren_ Bestellservice/2018-03-05-entschaedigung-ns-unrecht. pdf?_blob=publicationFile&v=19 20. Government of Germany, Press Statement on the Annual Negotiations Between the Jewish Claims Conference and the Federal Government (1992), available at https:// bundesfinanzministerium.de/Content/DE/ Pressemitteilungen/Finanzpolitik/2022/11/2022-11-04jaehrliche-verhandlungen-jcc-bundesregierung.html
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