Chit Chat

Reparations- German Jews

I've noticed that there are a lot of other Jews on here (and the word "reparations" reminded me) so I thought I'd put this out there:

There is a program that's a last chance to get reparations for any losses that German Jews may have had during the war. The application has to be received by the end of the year. You can download your application form on http://forms.claimscon.org/LAF/LAF-application-Eng.pdf. A lot of paperwork is required but, if you have some of it already together, it's probably worth a shot.

You should also read through the web site: http://www.claimscon.org/about/successor/late-applicants-fund/.

How much can anyone expect to get? It is impossible to say, but I would not count on much, if anything. My family is doing this, just in case. So far, my uncle has heard back that we got approved for reparations from my great-grandfather's business but not for the buildings that were lost.

My grandfather's family lost everything so it would be nice if he received anything that would help him in retirement.
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Re: Reparations- German Jews

  • novella1186novella1186 member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    edited December 2014
    Hm that's interesting. I don't think any of us are German Jews, though. Russian, Lithuanian, and Ukrainian. No German. 

    ETA: I mean "us" as in my family and my relatives, not "us" as in us Knotties lol 
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  • Lithuanian Jew here (although with a german last name that we have no idea where it came from.)
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  • Lithuanian Jew here (although with a german last name that we have no idea where it came from.)


    SIB
    We thought we had a German last name too. Turns out, it originated in Ukraine in the 400s and only recently (relative to the 400s) became German. 
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  • Lithuanian Jew here (although with a german last name that we have no idea where it came from.)


    SIB
    We thought we had a German last name too. Turns out, it originated in Ukraine in the 400s and only recently (relative to the 400s) became German. 
    Interesting!  Mine is a legit German word though so definitely German, just no German blood in the family.  Very strange.  Oh well, won't be my last name much longer!

    Haha I've written the word "German" so many times now that it doesn't look like a real word anymore.
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  • Lithuanian Jew here (although with a german last name that we have no idea where it came from.)


    SIB
    We thought we had a German last name too. Turns out, it originated in Ukraine in the 400s and only recently (relative to the 400s) became German. 
    Interesting!  Mine is a legit German word though so definitely German, just no German blood in the family.  Very strange.  Oh well, won't be my last name much longer!

    Haha I've written the word "German" so many times now that it doesn't look like a real word anymore.
    My last name is also a German word, but that side of the family is 100% Austrian and Russian so ... no clue where that came from.
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  • edited December 2014
    I don't know if we qualify. My last name is German, but I'm pretty sure we're from Hungary. I'm also pretty sure everyone got the heck out of dodge before any serious stuff went down. Sent it along to my parents just in case though. Thanks!
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  • My grandparents were born in jamaica so they were in the clear. English and Portuguese background so not sure where the Jewish aspect originated from.
  • It was worth a shot!
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  • beethery said:
    Do you guys with the out-of-nowhere German names know when that name entered the line in your family? Like if it was pre-war, I'd have no guesses, but if it started up around the time of the war I'd wonder if it was a family member possibly trying to cover Jewish name tracks for safety purposes.

    Just a guess.
    That's probably pretty damn accurate. 

    I have a great grandpa on my mom's side who changed his last name several times when he was younger just cuz he was an orphan, so he'd pick up a "better" name, change the spelling of it a few years later, etc. It was really hard to track his family cuz of all the name changes. 

    I also thought the non-German people got German last names from the days of far-reaching empires. But I like your idea the best. 
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  • Per my dad, his father's family was Austrian from a town that got absorbed into Poland. But I don' t think anyone in my family qualifies for reparations.
  • beethery said:
    Do you guys with the out-of-nowhere German names know when that name entered the line in your family? Like if it was pre-war, I'd have no guesses, but if it started up around the time of the war I'd wonder if it was a family member possibly trying to cover Jewish name tracks for safety purposes.

    Just a guess.
    That side of the family had been in the US already for over 50 years.  Not a clue where it came from!
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  • My dad's family traces back to Germany in the 1750's. No one is Jewish but they changed their name many times based on politics. Most recently, they changed it in WW1 because of anti-German sentiment in the area. The family name is now an oddball - but the upside is that the few of us with the name are all related!

    I'm not sure what reparations programs look like in other countries. It might be worth investigating! My gramma has been insisting that we research it for her family (Ukrainian, though she considers herself Russian) but they left before the war and never had anything to be compensated for anyway.
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  • Lithuanian Jew here (although with a german last name that we have no idea where it came from.)
    Me Too! (well, mostly Lithuanian, from my Dad's side... on my mom's side there's Poland, Ukraine, Russia) . I think FI is German Jew though... I'll forward this to him.
  • Yep.... confirmed with FI. They were from Germany and owned a Jewelry store, and left in 1938. FI thinks his family may have applied for reparations in the 50s. But apparently their store was in Stuttgart (West Germany) and this particular late application is just for East Germany.
  • @lilacck28- your FI's family should still try. My grandfather applied back in the 50's as well but we still qualify this time. Each time there are new reparations programs, different things qualify.

    Also, if he hasn't done it already, he should consider getting a German passport. We got ours a few years back. While I have no desire to ever live there, it makes travel much easier and gives us the ability to live in Europe easily. Plus, it's something I can pass down to my children someday.
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  • My maiden name is German, but our family doesn't have any Jewish heritage.


    BUT, have you Jewish ladies seen this - Mensch on a Bench!  It's the Hanukkah version of Elf on a Shelf!  I think it's awesome!
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  • lilacck28lilacck28 member
    First Anniversary First Comment 5 Love Its First Answer
    edited December 2014
    @lilacck28- your FI's family should still try. My grandfather applied back in the 50's as well but we still qualify this time. Each time there are new reparations programs, different things qualify.

    Also, if he hasn't done it already, he should consider getting a German passport. We got ours a few years back. While I have no desire to ever live there, it makes travel much easier and gives us the ability to live in Europe easily. Plus, it's something I can pass down to my children someday.
    I didn't even know that was possible! I spent the summer in Berlin doing an artist residency and he came to visit...I'm sure a German passport would have made traveling there much easier! (plus traveling through other EU countries.) I'll mention it to him (and mention reapplying). Thanks for the heads up!
  • beethery said:
    Do you guys with the out-of-nowhere German names know when that name entered the line in your family? Like if it was pre-war, I'd have no guesses, but if it started up around the time of the war I'd wonder if it was a family member possibly trying to cover Jewish name tracks for safety purposes.

    Just a guess.
    My German side is Jewish, and when they came over here they changed it to a German name for that very reason. Then my great-grandfather lied and said they were Catholic to marry my Irish Catholic great-grandma. Apparently no one checked too closely with the war and unplanned pregnancy and everything. Priest just went "Catholic? Ok, I believe you, you seem like a nice Catholic boy"...apparently.

    The funny part, they picked a last name of a family they had known in Germany (who were not Jewish), so until my great-grandpa gave the full story before he died we'd always thought we were related to these people but we are not. We just borrowed their name.
  • edited June 2015
  • My maiden name is German, but our family doesn't have any Jewish heritage.


    BUT, have you Jewish ladies seen this - Mensch on a Bench!  It's the Hanukkah version of Elf on a Shelf!  I think it's awesome!
    image
    lol that's just too funny. I should get this for my mom! haha 
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