LONDON — Expectations that Britain will refuse to reimburse Jewish Holocaust survivors whose assets were seized have produced a chorus of protests against the British government.
This could be particularly embarrassing for Britain, which convened an international conference on Nazi gold in December to urge that light be shed on assets of Holocaust victims that were never returned to their owners.
Lord Greville Janner, a British Jewish leader who heads the London-based Holocaust Educational Trust, last week met a senior government official on the matter.
Afterward, he said, “I got the impression that the government is not going to give compensation. They are going to say no to those survivors and their heirs.”
The British government has investigated the funds that were deposited in British banks before the war and was slated today to publish a report on its findings.
The report was expected to include details of some 25,000 accounts that were seized as enemy property during World War II. It was also to give details of payments that have already been made.
However, it is not expected to include a recommendation that any of the remaining claimants be compensated or reimbursed.
Neville Nagler, chief executive of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, the umbrella organization of the British Jewish community, said it would be “shameful” if the government doesn’t compensate those whose assets were confiscated.
“They and their descendants have waited more than a half-century for justice,” he said.
The assets, estimated at up to $500 million in current values, were deposited in British commercial banks for safekeeping by European Jews who feared that their countries would fall under Nazi rule and that their assets would be seized.
When the war started, the British government seized the assets. In 1948, Britain made a token payment to about 1,000 survivors, but after 1956, the remaining assets were used by the British government to compensate British citizens who had lost assets in enemy countries as a result of the war.
Officials have hinted that the British government will now attempt to deflect criticism by announcing the establishment of a $3 million “hardship fund.”
Janner predicted that Britain would “run into a shower of outrage” if it does not compensate the account-holders.