August 29th, 2012

Hungary demands refund of state support paid to Claims Conference

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Hungary demands a refund of state support paid to the Claims Conference, an organisation representing world Jewry in negotiating for compensation and restitution for victims of Nazi persecution, the Ministry of Public Administration and Justice told MTI on Monday.

The Claims Conference was commissioned in 2007 to pay compensation to Holocaust survivors of Hungarian descent living abroad, but it has failed to give detailed accounts of how the money has been spent, said the ministry. Government commissioner Levente Andras Gal informed the embassies of the US and Israel about this on Monday, it added.

In recent months, Gal has repeatedly called on the organisation to give an account of its spending – the last time was on June 24, and the 60-day deadline has now expired, the ministry said.

The Claims Conference is expected to refund the money, plus interest, and Gal will propose that compensation for all Hungarian Holocaust survivors should be handled in the future by the government-founded Jewish Heritage of Hungary Public Endowment (MAZSOK).

MTI (Magyar Távirati Iroda) is the Hungarian news agency.
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  • judas

    here i would fully support the hungarian government as jew,as israeli and as son of holocaust survivor.
    claims conference is a shady ,completely non transparent organisation.

  • Magyar

    And when will Hungarians get compensated for Trianon, 1919 rape of Csonka Hungary Trianon Number Two, allied bombings of Hungary, Commie Rape of Hungary during WW2, Benes Decrees,deporations of 600 000 Hungarians to the USSR, commie rape of Hungary in 1956, Ceausescu, the Yugoslav wars destroying Hungarian villages in Délvidék, the MSZP and all other commies…

    I could go on…

    • …justasking

      @Magyar,

      ‘And when will Hungarians get compensated for…’

      Well, you can start by setting up a similar type of organization, claiming that you (you’ll have to think of a catchy name)are ‘an organisation representing world Hungarians in negotiating for compensation and restitution for victims of…’.

      Now, this should keep you busy for awhile, now off you go to get started.

      Oh, don’t forget to give us all here on poli.hu, the occasional update. Take care and good luck.

    • MagyarViking

      About the same time Hungary start to pay retribution for its involvement in the occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1968?

      It is OK to start to pay to the legal successors – Czech Republic and Slovakia

  • Aloof

    Uhhhh… never. Movin’ on…

  • Ma Jar

    When will my family be compensated for property taken by the communists?
    Stolen property kept by thieves or sold by them is still stolen property and should be given back to the rightful owner. Buy a good, cheap car from a supposedly reputable person and the next day a policeman shows up at your door demanding the car keys because said automobile was stolen property. Try to get away with keeping it – hah! Funny, the state can steal and it is okay but in society a citizen can’t.

    • MagyarViking

      Ma Jar says:
      August 29, 2012 at 9:48 pm

      When will my family be compensated for property taken by the communists?
      —

      If they and you were Hungarians and living in Hungary, then there was a compensation plan for that, after 1990

      I though believe it has been abolished now, after more than 15 years

    • …justasking

      @Ma Jar,

      ‘When will my family be compensated for property taken by the communists?’

      My step-Dad did, he simply had to pay the back taxes and ‘poof’, the land was ours again.

      We now rent it out to a local farmer who works the land.

      • Ma Jar

        To Magyar Viking and …justasking Yes we participated in that farce and this noun ‘farce’ describes it best! Give back what was taken – nothing more nothing less. Alas, we got far less back. Poof, the crooks still live in and use the buildings and land The claims were prepared by two family lawyers, both well thought of in the legal profession!

  • Leto مؤدّب

    “There’s trouble with the J*ws. The trouble is not that they didn’t learn anything from their suffering and misery. Who learnt something from that? Nobody. The trouble is what they learnt. They learnt Fascism and they continue with it in their own J*wish way.”
    (Sándor Márai, writer)

  • Time TO SUE USA!

    Nazi Adolf Eichmann worked for the CIA, 23 other Nazis were approached by the CIA for recruitment, and at least 100 officers within the Gehlen organization were former SD or Gestapo officers. (Note 2)

    http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB146/

  • olga

    @ Magyar Viking

    re: “If they and you were Hungarians and living in Hungary, then there was a compensation plan for that, after 1990″

    my understanding is that you did not have to live in Hungary, you could live in the US, Canada etc but there was a limited window of opportunity to accept the amount offered

    Some people refused to be “compensated” because of the ridiculous amount offered and chose to retain property rights in case they might have the property returned “one day”

    I am not positive this was the case but would be interested in the correct answer

    • Leto مؤدّب

      It’s correct. The “compensation” was absolutely ridiculous… so quite a few people refused it altogether indeed.
      A lot of elderly people still accepted “kárpótlási jegyek” (“better than nothing and I’m about to die anyway”) and even these mostly ended up in the hands of (usually postcommie related) speculators… for peanuts, abusing elderly people’s reduced judgement. One of my grandmothers sold them in the same way… without consulting anybody else. So the “compensation” for a complete middle size farm turned out to be a few tens of thousands of Forints. MDF, full of Communist agents, made a huge, huge mistake with “kárpótlás”.

      • Ma Jar

        To Leto: Right on. Our family got the shaft – \karpotlas\ is an insult!

  • judas

    magyar,

    it is really heartbreaking that you complain “and what
    is with our compensation?”

    First, there were compensation plans for hungary(i am no expert on this though)
    Second and more important: It is a special gift of hungarian politicians to be always on the wrong side
    in world politics and thus Hungary suffered big losses.
    who is to blame? First and foremost hungarian leadership.
    Furthermore if Hungary would get its act together and
    use influential Hungarians overseas to form an organisation which deals with those issues you would be more successful.This demands thinking,planning,stamina
    etc. (george soros would be a good start for example)
    However you have still a lot to clear up in your own backyard (for example properties of jews,art from jewish homes in hungarian ministries,etc,etc )

    So i believe ,get your friends together and deal with the issue and beware that they do not steal the money you might recover like the claims conference is doing (better to say they do not distribute the money and properties received to survivors and wait until they die!)

    • …justasking

      @judas,

      ‘Furthermore if Hungary would get its act together and
      use influential Hungarians overseas to form an organisation which deals with those issues you would be more successful.This demands thinking,planning,stamina
      etc. (george soros would be a good start for example)’

      What a sick way of thinking. So, the people of today have to pay for the wrongs of yesterday? Give me a break.

      Your suggestion of ‘the squeaky wheel gets the grease’ is correct; but, eventually, it bits you in the ass…especially, when ‘compensation’ turns into ‘extortion’.
      ————-

      ‘However you have still a lot to clear up in your own backyard…’

      Oh, the irony of YOU suggesting others clean up their own backyard!!!!
      ——-

      ‘(for example properties of j*ws…’

      As long as it’s on the up and up, and not like the demands from the Swiss banks, that turned out to be nothing more than BS.
      ——-

  • olga

    @ Leto

    re: ” A lot of elderly people still accepted “kárpótlási jegyek”

    Yes, and some did not, because they did not face reality that these properties were “gone with the wind” and you cannot turn back clocks. Whether your Grandmother signed away her rights while others did not, the bottom line is the same result because no one is ever going to get those properties back, not even the guy I met on a train about 10 years ago who was still talking about his rights to his family’s castle.

    I looked in my never failing crystal ball and saw that these ridiculous compensation offers came in envelopes with the return address:

    Budapest Fovaros Karrenddezesi Hivatal
    1053 Budapest Kecskemeti U 10.-12
    PF: 715 1399

    • Leto مؤدّب

      Hungary should have done “restitution” just like the Czech did. I myself didn’t realize at the time how important that would have been. :(

  • MagyarViking

    Leto مؤدّب says:
    August 30, 2012 at 1:14 pm

    MDF, full of Communist agents
    —

    WoW!
    And one of them were ‘leto’, who was a starch MDF-supporter until 1995, when she got new directives and started with Fidesz instead

  • Proud Zsido

    Here is more details on this controversy from JTA.org.

    Title: Hungary, Claims Conference exchange harsh words over Holocaust money

    The Claims Conference accused Hungary’s government of “depriving” Holocaust survivors through “disgraceful” and “deceitful tactics.”

    The allegations came after Budapest demanded on Monday that the Claims Conference, an organization representing world Jewry in compensation talks on Holocaust-era crimes,” return” $12.6 million to Hungary’s treasury.

    An announcement published on the website of the Hungarian Ministry of Public Administration and Justice cited “discriminatory” methods by the Claims Conference that had “failed to properly report” on expenditure. Hungary would give the Claims Conference no more funds until the issue is solved, the announcement said.

    Claims Conference Executive Vice President Greg Schneider told JTA that this was the first time in the organization’s 62 years of operation “that a country has reneged when it came time to pay. We hope that intervention at the highest level in Hungary will resolve this issue for Hungarian survivors who need help.”

    For the full article, see
    ~http://www.jta.org/news/article/2012/08/29/3105391/hungary-claims-conference-exchange-harsh-words-over-holocaust-money

    • Proud Zsido

      We must sue the Holy Crown of Hungary for 200 trillion US dollars.

    • …justasking

      @Proud…who cares,

      ‘Claims Conference Executive Vice President Greg Schneider told JTA that this was the first time in the organization’s 62 years of operation “that a country has reneged when it came time to pay. We hope that intervention at the highest level in Hungary will resolve this issue for Hungarian survivors who need help.”

      Let’s dumb it down and be honest here…people have been Holocaust-ed out.

      Instead of handing over cash willy nilly, they want to know where it’s all going and to whom…it’s called being held accountable.

      Don’t like it? You don’t get the money or as the saying goes…’No ticky, no laundry’

      • Leto مؤدّب

        Oh, why don’t you just take their gentlemanly word they payed to the ones they promised to pay to in the first place? :rolleyes:

      • Anonymous

        ….justasking “No ticky, no laundry” is a racist comment and you know it! Not nice, not at all nice!

        • …justasking

          @Anon,

          ‘No ticky, no laundry” is a racist comment and you know it! Not nice, not at all nice!’

          No, it’s called ‘politically incorrect’…obviously, you don’t know the meaning of racism.

  • Anonymous

    People, please behave properly. Poorly pouted phrases is proof positive of problem phraseology pertaining to a phlegmatic personality!

  • judas

    my point was and is:

    If you want to get compensation from whoever you think did you wrong you have to get organized,plan and excecute your plan. Do not cry . Do it. Nobody will do it for you.

    • justasking

      @judas,

      ‘If you want to get compensation from whoever you think did you wrong….’

      What a typical American attitude (and a piss poor one at that, in my opinion)if you don’t like something…sue em….for anything and everything that you can get.

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