Jewish women and children who arrived in Israel after 1953 from Tunisia will be recognized his Holocaust survivors by the state, Israel Hayom as learned. The policy until now has excluded this group from being treated as Holocaust survivors to the full extent, denying them various stipends and entitlements. This, despite the forced labor that they had to endure under the Nazi occupation.
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
The nonprofit Aviv for Holocaust Survivors has in recent months filed on behalf of the claimants new applications, with resounding success, essentially making their status equivalent to other Holocaust survivors. This means that several thousands of shekels will likely now be added to their monthly stipends and they would qualify for various other benefits from the government.
The success affects an initial 400 women who had to work in forced labor conditions, along with 300 children who joined them. They had been denied this status because they immigrated to Israel after October 1953, which was the cutoff date, effectively making them eligible only for reduced benefits. Now, instead of getting just several thousands of shekels once a year, they would get a monthly allowance, which could be "life-changing" for some. The government stressed that future applications will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis, although it is likely that they will be approved as well if they meet the new criteria.
In 2015, the government decided to grant full Holocaust survivor status to Romanian immigrants who were subject to forced labor conditions because of a Nazi law that was issued at the time. The government decided to apply this to Jewish men from Tunisia who were 18 to 50 at the time, but not to women and children. But in recent years women and children from Tunisia who had also been subject to the same condition began sharing their testimony, only to be rejected by the Israeli officials, who said that there was no official law under Nazi occupation that made them carry out forced labor. But the testimony proved that in practice, they had to do the same job as others who were subject to such laws, in effect, because they were subject to abuse and whims of the Nazis who acted on their own without an official law.
Ravit Lieberman, who is the head of the relevant department at the Finance Ministry said, "Those who write to us that they were subject to forced labor or had to join their mother who carried out such activity, will get our benefit of the doubt. We will not try to verify every detail of their account.' She noted that while it won't be an automatic process, because some of the funds have to match criteria set by the German government, the goal is to "make the lives easier for all Holocaust survivors." ,
Orly Sivan, who is the CEO of Aviv for Holocaust Survivors, said, "In recent months, we have led a campaign to find hundreds of Holocaust survivors from Tunisia so that we can update them on the recent developments and help them get what they deserve. Every day we receive new information on applications that had been approved thanks to the nonprofit. I call on all Holocaust survivors to call our helpline and see if we can help you free of charge to maximize what you are entitled to. In many cases, this could change lives and we see this every day. "
Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!
