Image by getty images

Israel has successfully negotiated with Germany’s Ministry for Employment and Social Affairs to improve pension payments to Jews who were forced to work in Nazi ghettos.

A formal announcement is expected later this month, when German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her Cabinet visit Israel for their annual joint meeting and talks, initiated in 2008.

The adjustment would affect approximately 13,000 Holocaust survivors in Israel who applied for the pension after 1997 and who had received retroactive payments for a maximum of four years. Under the proposed change, all applicants, whether forced to work or paid, will be eligible for retroactive payments back to 1997, even if this exceeds four years. The average payment per person would be about $20,500, according to Der Spiegel magazine.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

German Deputy Labor Minister Jörg Asmussen introduced the proposed change in the law on behalf of Labor Minister Andrea Nahles during recent meetings with an Israeli delegation to Berlin, the magazine reported.

There are separate compensation programs for surviving slave laborers and for those who were paid at the time. The proposed change would apply to both groups.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

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 polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$90 $180

$360

Other amount