Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Holocaust Day

Today is the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, a memorial day for the victims of the Holocaust, six million European Jews as well as millions of others by the Nazi regime. The day was designated by the United Nations General Assembly Resolution on November 1, 2005.

190,000 Holocaust survivors reside in Israel today. 50,000 are estimated to live below the poverty line, according to the Association for Immediate Help for Holocaust Survivors. The average age of Israel's remaining Holocaust survivors is 80.
 “It feels like they are a bother to our government which is just waiting for them to pass away”,  Susan Rotem, a volunteer with the Association for Immediate Help for Holocaust Survivors, says 

A report published by the Foundation for the Benefit of Holocaust Victims in Israel in April 2014, one of every four Israeli Holocaust survivors lives in poverty. One out of five noted that they were forced to choose between medication and food during the past two years due to economic hardship, and half reported suffering from loneliness. Over a third approached the Foundation last year to request assistance; most of these fall into the Finance Ministry’s “needy” category. 

"We cannot ignore the fact that the state had failed to provide the remedy, welfare, containment, treatment and the attentiveness that Holocaust survivors need and deserve," a recent report about survivors published in Israel's Ha'aretz newspaper suggested.

There is a classification for government assistance for Holocaust victims. Those who are described as survivors and those who fled to become refugees. Only those who were deported to camps or ghettos during the war are automatically eligible for compensation, while the rest have to argue their case.

When the reparations agreement with Germany signed in 1952, claims Yossi Katz, Israel placed the needs of the new state above the needs of the survivors. The German funds were used to build the country and absorb refugees, and Israel, in the name of the survivors, waived any further claims against Germany. This precluded the possibility of personal injury claims by Israeli survivors, unlike their fellow survivors living anywhere else in the world. The struggle for legislation to compensate deprived Holocaust victims continues to this day. Israel left the matter of personal claims against Germany to private organizations, which opened the way for a thriving industry of public and private bodies that profit at the expense of the survivors.


4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I would like to ask the Socialist Party: when will there be a remembrance day for the victims of the british empire, which killed an inestimable of people in numerous countries, but nevertheless, is still praised or at least not pictured as an evil government? Don't confuse my statement as an apology to the evil that Hitler has caused, all I am saying is that he wasn't the most evil leader in history, even less the only one who promoted massacre. It seems like he is only he remembered as such because he was against the interest of the current dominant powers, which have promoted the same things as him in the same level, however, they're forgiven by history, history was written by them, the winners.
You, nazis and apologists of the british empire, are equally horrible people, but not treated the same way.

One minute of silence for:
former African colonies of the extinct british empire
Jamaica (former colony of the same empire above)
Victims of the atomic bomb attack in Japan
Victims of the incalculable middle-east wars promoted by the dominant powers (Iraq and Afghanistan are only a small portion of those wars)
Victims of the british empire attacks in India
Victims of the holocaust in nazi Germany

Socialist Party Of Great Britain can never lose its british eurocentric roots, even though its members refuse to admit it. That's why most of the british population are still reluctant to support you. Not because you're different from them, but because you're exactly like them and try to hide it.
This is my open letter for you. I am from Africa.
Best regards.

ajohnstone said...

The Socialist Party began in 1904 and throughout its history it has tried to expose the complicity of British capitalism with the terror and horror of its bloody role.

In the First World War when those tried to lie that it was a war of democracy and a defence of the underdog, we highlightedthe hypocrisy that Belgium was to blame for torture and murder in the Congo. The party tried to publicise the Bengal Famine in the midst of the Second World War.

We feel sorry that you are unaware of this part of our history. We offered our solidarity and fraternity with our fellow workers around the world, and many members suffered individual tragedies in their opposition to the capitalist wars.

We categorically reject your charge and request that you actually provided evidence in support of your accusations so we can reply specifically.

If we sought a minute silence for all the innocent victims of capitalism, there would be many years of accumulated silence. But the Socialist Party prefers to raise its voice against the innumerable crimes of capitalism.

ajohnstone said...

As you say you are from Africa you may be interested in visiting our blog entirely devoted to African issues

http://socialistbanner.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the link. I didn't know that blog before.