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Because of the Article 2 fund, these survivors will get about $350 a month for the rest of their lives, Kagan said.

Of the 20,000 survivors, 55 percent live in Israel and 33 percent live in the United States.

The Claims Conference continues to receive applications for compensation, Kagan said, and the group expects an additional 10,000 people to be approved for payments in the next year.

"The conference is pressing the German government to liberalize the guidelines so that additional groups of survivors can get compensation," according to a Claims Conference statement.

The Claims Conference was established in 1951.