Hungarian Government Stops Payments To “Holocaust Survivors” & Demands Return of Funds

This article originally from National Alliance News

(WJC) — Hungary is demanding that the Claims Conference, the New York-based Jewish organization which handles payments to Holocaust survivors around the world, return about US$ 8 million in payments made to Holocaust survivors. The government in Budapest said the Claims Conference had failed to properly account for the money. Claims Conference leaders said that reams of information about the payments had been provided to the authorities and accused Hungary of “depriving” Shoah survivors through “disgraceful” and “deceitful tactics.”

(…)Two years ago, after the nationalist Fidesz government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban came to power in Hungary, Commissioner Andras Levente Gal began challenging how the money had been spent, asking for more details about the funds. The Hungarian government halted its payments to the organization, holding on to US$ 5.6 million. “It is impossible to identify the individuals eligible for compensation or the grounds for their eligibility” based on the documents it provided, the Hungarian Ministry of Public Administration and Justice said on its website this week, arguing the organization had shown that the funds were distributed “on a far-from-equal footing.” Gal is now seeking to reclaim roughly US$ 8 million from the group, along with interest and added charges.

(…)The dispute has erupted at a time when Jewish organizations say bias against Hungarian Jews is at alarming heights, surging dramatically in recent years.

Nearly two-thirds of Hungarians surveyed this year said Jews “still talk too much about what happened to them in the Holocaust,” the Anti-Defamation League found, the highest rate among European countries it polled. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel handed back a Hungarian award this summer, saying Hungary was whitewashing its past crimes.