Report to Congress: German Foundation "Remembrance, Responsibility, and the Future"
Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs [As required by Section 704 of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, FY 2003 (as enacted in Public Law 107-228)] Introduction Section 704 of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, FY 2003, as enacted in Public Law 107-228, requires the Secretary of State to report to the appropriate Congressional committees on the status of the implementation of the Agreement between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany concerning the Foundation "Remembrance, Responsibility, and the Future," signed in Berlin on July 17,2000, and, to the extent possible, on payments to and from the Foundation and on certain aspects of the functioning of the International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims ("ICHEIC"). This is the seventh report submitted pursuant to that law. Background The United States Government played a critical role in a multilateral effort that resulted in the establishment of a Foundation under German law entitled "Remembrance, Responsibility, and the Future" ("Foundation"). The Foundation was capitalized with 10 billion German Marks (DM), valued at the time at approximately five billion dollars. Since June 2001, the Foundation has been making payments to survivors in recognition of the suffering they endured as slave and forced laborers. The Foundation also covers other personal injury claims and certain property loss or damage caused by German companies during the Nazi era, including claims against German banks and insurance companies. Further background is available in previous reports submitted to the committees. Implementation of the Agreement The United States and the Federal Republic of Germany have taken various steps to implement the Foundation Agreement. In August 2000, a German law establishing the Foundation took effect. In October 2000, the United States and the Federal Republic of Germany exchanged diplomatic notes to bring the Foundation Agreement into effect. The United States' note indicates that the German law, as clarified and interpreted by several German Government letters, is fully consistent with the Foundation Agreement, which sets forth the principles that shall govern the operations of the Foundation. The United States Government has filed statements of interest recommending the dismissal, on any valid legal ground, of lawsuits brought against German companies for wrongs committed during the Nazi era, and is committed to do so in future cases that are covered by the Foundation Agreement. On May 30,2001, the German Bundestag declared that "adequate legal certainty" had been achieved for German companies in the United States. Under the law establishing the Foundation, this declaration by the Bundestag authorized the Foundation to make funds available to the seven partner organizations (foundations that had previously been established in Belarus, the Czech Republic, Poland, Russia and Ukraine, as well as the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany and the International Organization for Migration) that would make payments to individual recipients. Funds Available to the Foundation By early 2002, the entire sum of 10 billion DM had been made available to the Foundation by the Federal Republic of Germany and by German companies. Payments from the Foundation As of December 2005, approximately $5.1 billion (4.265 billion Euro or 8.3 billion DM) had been paid to approximately 1,646,000 surviving slave and forced laborers. This represents 98 percent of the funds (8.1 billion DM plus an additional amount from interest earnings) available from the Foundation's capital for slave and forced labor payments. The remaining funds will continue to be paid out over the next six months. A breakdown of payments by partner organizations follows:
ICHEIC The law establishing the Foundation provides funds to ICHEIC for the payment of claims arising from unpaid insurance policies issued by German insurance companies, as well as for the associated costs, and also a contribution to the ICHEIC humanitarian fund. The Foundation Agreement provides that insurance claims made against German insurance companies will be processed according to ICHEIC claims handling procedures and under any additional claims handling procedures that may be agreed among the Foundation, ICHEIC, and the German Insurance Association. Following two earlier extensions, the deadline for filing claims was extended to December 31, 2003. The later filing deadline was designed to provide additional time for applicants, assisted by a publicized list of names, to determine whether to file a claim. Applicants who contacted ICHEIC prior to the December 31 deadline to obtain claim forms had until March 31, 2004, to complete the form and send it so that ICHEIC receives it by that date. The Department of State was unable to obtain such information on the ICHEIC claims process as required by Section 704(a)(3)-(7). Some information about ICHEIC, including statistics on claims and appeals, however, is publicly available on ICHEIC's Web site (www.icheic.org). |
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