jerusalem (ap) | Dozens of Holocaust survivors demonstrated outside the headquarters of Bank Leumi this week, urging the Israeli bank to open its records about unclaimed assets of Holocaust victims and turn the money over to destitute survivors.
A Knesset report early this year concluded the government and several banks, including Bank Leumi, Israel’s oldest commercial bank, hold more than $200 million in assets belonging to Holocaust victims. The bank says it no longer holds any such funds.
Survivors demanded that all the unclaimed assets be converted to funds to aid them. About 280,000 Holocaust survivors live in Israel, and the population is in many cases living in difficult conditions.
In the protest, several rows of chairs were left empty, marked with the names of Holocaust survivors who have died in recent years. “Bank Leumi is waiting for all of us to die,” read a large poster.
“We decided to organize this demonstration, no matter how many people take part, in order to prove and to proclaim to the whole world that we will no longer be silent,” said Zeev Factor, an Auschwitz survivor and chairman of a welfare fund for Holocaust victims.