The German government provided compensation and a formal apology to more than 125,000 Holocaust survivors of forced and other Nazi victims such as forced slave labor during the 1930s and 1940s. The International Organization for Migration (IOM), based out of Geneva, Switzerland called us due to our extensive experience handling claim forms based on our work with the Jewish Claims Conference (JCC). IOM was created to help refugees and displaced persons in Europe after World War II. They needed to act quickly to gather and process claims from candidates throughout the world as many of them were elderly. The following official IOM statement tells of the impact of the program.
With claimants throughout 40 countries, the logistical challenge required adherence to strict privacy laws and time lines imposed under the German agreement. The tight deadlines to allow claims to be filed and paid also added to the sense of urgency. Claims were in multiple languages including Serbian, Macedonian and Greek. Claim attachments of original documents consisting of letters, passports, photos were in very poor quality but the accurate scanning and data capture was vital to the validation of the claim so Holocaust survivors and their families could receive just recognition and compensation.
