The reparations checks Amira Gezow received every three months from the German government mattered to her. She had worked to get them and had helped other survivors secure theirs. For Gezow, a German-born woman who lost both her parents in the Holocaust, the checks were, monetarily, a pittance: 72.55 euros per month, or about 240…
(JTA) — On his path to the article that would get many Americans to consider reparations for Black people for the first time, Ta-Nehisi Coates paused to dwell on the role of Jews in Chicago’s housing inequality. Coates had just read “Family Properties,” a book by Beryl Satter about how government policy served to impoverish…
When I visited Berlin a number of years ago, I was surprised by the number of plaques embedded in the city’s streets that contain the name of Jews sent to their death by the Nazi regime. I was equally impressed by the myriad neighborhood memorials that many visitors might easily miss: a wall at a…
(JTA) — A home health care aide was arrested for bilking an elderly Jewish couple in the Miami area out of at least $100,000, some of it Holocaust reparations. Odalis Lopez, 56, has worked as a caretaker for Rella Herman, 93, and Leonard Herman, 91, of suburban Pinecrest since 2011, the NBC Miami affiliate reported….
What if: you could have unlimited donuts and soup & salad combos but your family’s name was smeared by the legacy of Naziism? Such is the situation of the Reimanns, one of Germany’s wealthiest families, who are the majority owners of major international eateries Krispy Kreme Doughnuts, Panera Bread and Pret A Manger. After an…
Dear Gertrud F: I received your official-looking letter just the other day. I could tell immediately its origin was from a foreign land: an evocative, welcome throwback to the tactile pre-Web era, when missives would arrive from beyond our shores bearing exotic-looking stamps, redolent of faraway places. All rendered basically obsolete, of course, by the…
(JTA) — In an unusual move, a Lithuanian court voided the local Jewish community’s April internal elections, declaring that communal bosses have no legal authority to continue their rule. The Dec. 21 ruling by Vilnius District Court, which is the first of its kind in years in Europe, is the latest development in the fight…
This is Part II of Rachel Hall’s essay on France and reparations. Part I appeared in November. Some Holocaust survivors have opposed accepting reparations, particularly from Germany, saying that nothing can atone for their treatment. I imagine that accepting restitution could feel like accepting an apology, like being forced into forgiving, when forgiveness isn’t possible….
