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Isi Leibler chairs the Diaspora-Israel relations committee of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, and is a veteran Jewish international leader.
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By Isi Leibler
April 10, 2007
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Over the past year, escalating complaints and demands for greater transparency have been directed against the management of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims against Germany Inc. (Claims Conference), the organization responsible for recovering and distributing Jewish assets plundered by the Nazis.
Many of the complaints are long standing and were exposed in 1997 in a series of articles by Netty C. Gross in the Jerusalem Report. The central issue remains the allegation that whereas the Claims Conference does disclose allocations, it lacks transparency in the manner by which it allocates funds. Critics insist that it functions more like an old boys club than a representative body, and that the Board is merely a rubber stamp endorsing the decisions of a few machers who make decisions amongst themselves and only consult their key constituents. This is confirmed by the fact that the board never meaningfully challenges allocations submitted by the selection committee.
As the vast majority of directors are themselves representatives of organizations benefiting from distributions, they are also disinclined to rock the boat by attempting to reform the structure. That is possibly why the government of Israel and the Jewish Agency -- both major beneficiaries of Claims Conference funds -- have hitherto failed to demand greater transparency and bring about reforms to the composition of the board which remains virtually unchanged since it was created in 1951. That it no longer reflects the reality of current Jewish life, is exemplified by the fact that that virtually extinct organizations like the Anglo-Jewish Association and the Jewish Labor Committee still retain similar board status to the Jewish Agency.
The most passionate complaint is that as a consequence of years of delayed processing and neglect, despite being one of the wealthiest foundations in the world, many aged survivors in poor health will not live to receive their restitution entitlements. In recent years the efficiency of processing applications has improved, but there are still numerous complaints. Rank and file survivors also insist that their representatives on the board no longer adequately represent their interests. Having regard to the millions provided by the Germans for administrative expenses, it is regrettable that an independent ombudsman structure was not established. That may have enabled complaints to have been objectively assessed and survivors could have avoided resorting to American and German courts to resolve their problems.
The allegations that senior executive salaries and expenses are extravagant may be unjustified but should nevertheless be open to public scrutiny. However there are valid grounds for questioning fees expended to middlemen, consultants, lawyers and public relations organizations.
There are mounting complaints that the Claims Conference still fails to fully disclose its assets and that Jewish properties appropriated by the Nazis were sold by the Claims Conference without providing adequate notice to heirs to register claims. Ugly rumors are circulating concerning the Frankfurt Claims Conference office which operates a huge real estate empire and disposes properties in what critics describe as a "shady" non competitive manner. Recently, class action proceedings were instituted in a German court by Gabriele Hammerstein, alleging that the Claims Conference had blocked her claim to her parent's sanatorium. Allegedly, this is merely the tip of the iceberg because the value of assets from East Germany alone allegedly amounts to billions of dollars. In addition, there are increasing murmurings about plundered Jewish artworks which the Claims Conference is apparently also reluctant to fully disclose. All these issues could be laid to rest if genuine transparency applied.
Finally there is the ongoing debate whether the Claims Conference has adequately memorialized the German victims of Nazi persecution whose property still provides millions in restitution funds. This is exemplified by the plaque at Yad Vashem acknowledging by name senior directors of the Claims Conference for grants bestowed rather than bracketing the bequest with victims of the Holocaust.
The rising disquiet about management will be intensified following the bizarre response by Claims Conference Chairman Julius Berman to calls for Israel Singer to step down from the Claims Conference Presidency after the WJC fired him.
Instead of declining to comment prior to consulting his board, Berman responded that "our position for years has been -- and remains -- that this sounds like an internal fight within the World Jewish Congress and it would be inappropriate to allow the dispute to come out into the public at the Claim Conference." He added "In my opinion, Singer can continue to function because of who he is and what he represents."
Berman does not represent any organization on the Claims Conference board but is a senior partner in a major law firm, an Orthodox rabbi, and a former chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations. After virtually the entire global media and many anti Semitic websites had been disseminating the lurid WJC scandal, his ex cathedra announcement that Singer could stay on and negotiate with governments on behalf of the Jewish people astonished the Jewish world.
The New York Jewish Week editorial asked "Now that Singer has become a liability found to have violated his fiduciary responsibilities to the WJC, can the Claims Conference ... allow him to stay on as a leader championing morality and righteousness?"
The Orthodox weekly Jewish Press editorial queried "whether someone with a serious cloud over his head can continue to function effectively as the lead representative of the Jewish community in an effort to address one of history's most profound moral issues. This, frankly, is a question that should have been asked several years ago when the attorney general of the State of New York came to some rather negative conclusions about Mr. Singer's stewardship of WJC finances, although no criminality was found."
Berman's surprising response has now polarized questions about the moral compass of the Claims Conference leadership. Clearly, an organization acting as trustee for Jewish restitution funds must not only be pristine pure, but its officers cannot even be remotely perceived as being in any way associated with improprieties.
Berman's statement will hopefully also accelerate demands by the Government of Israel and leading Jewish organizations to insist on a long overdue review of the Claims Conference structure.
Whatever the outcome, the need to thoroughly restructure and enable the Claims Conference to reflect the reality of Jewish life, must become a top priority. If the complaints prove to be unfounded, transparency will at least put an end to false rumors. After the WJC debacle, we must ensure that the vastly more important Claims Conference whose decisions will have a profound impact on the future of the Jewish people, is managed by a regime of good governance in a totally transparent manner and fulfills its mandate of serving the interests of survivors and heirs, as well as enshrining the memory of those who perished during the Holocaust.
Views expressed by the author do not
necessarily reflect those of israelinsider.
 
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