Hungary Plans 50% Hike in Holocaust Pensions
Hungary reportedly intends to raise pensions to Holocaust survivors by 50 percent in 2013, the 70th anniversary of the extermination of Hungarian Jewry.
The increase in pensions will affect about 8,000 Holocaust survivors, who can expect to see more money as early as Jan. 1, according to the news site Hungary Around the Clock. Another 50 percent increase above the payments distributed in 2012 is planned for Jan. 1, 2014.
The report also said that the Hungarian cabinet will form a national Holocaust 2014 Memorial Commission to be run by Janos Lazar, the head of the Hungarian Prime Minister’s Office.
Hungarian and German Nazi troops deported some 400,000 Jews from Hungary to Auschwitz in 1944.
The Claims Conference, an international body that represents world Jewry in compensation talks over Holocaust-era crimes, accused Hungary’s government in August of “depriving” Holocaust survivors through “disgraceful” and “deceitful tactics.”
The allegations came after Budapest demanded that the Claims Conference “return” $12.6 million to Hungary’s treasury because of what it called failure to properly report who received the money.
Over the past few months, the Hungarian government has come under international pressure to curb anti-Semitic expression in parliament, mainly by politicians for the ultranationalist Jobbik party.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
