A scam to span generations

zgrams at zgrams.zundelsite.org zgrams at zgrams.zundelsite.org
Thu May 3 14:00:32 EDT 2007


-- 



Lawsuit: Recognize 2nd generation as Shoah victims
<http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3387483,00.html>http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3387483,00.html


Children of survivors plan to file class action against German 
government, demanding that it recognize traumas caused by childhood 
in shadow of Holocaust

Reuven Weiss
Published:  04.13.07,

  More than 60 years after the Holocaust, the children of the 
survivors are demanding compensation from the German government for 
their suffering.



All this time they kept silent. Growing in the shadow of 
post-traumatic Holocaust surviving parents, they suffered from 
violence, over-protection and unrealistic expectations. Some of them 
succeeded and even became famous, while others collapsed.



Following an initiative to file a joint class action to second 
generation members from Israel, Germany and the United States, the 
Fisher Fund is holding talks with senior German officials in a bid to 
receive financing for mental treatments required by some 
second-generation Holocaust survivors.



The Fisher Fund was established seven years ago by Attorney Gideon 
Fisher, whose parents Mali and Yosef were Holocaust survivors. The 
fund, an independent body, grants scholarships and assists in places 
where other organizations are unable to help.



About a year and a half ago, after receiving a large number of 
requests, Attorney Fisher established a legal department in his 
office to deal with lawsuits filed by hundreds of Holocaust survivors 
and their children.



Many of the second-generation survivors told Fisher about the 
difficulties they were forced to experience as children to Holocaust 
survivors, difficulties which affect their lives to this day, and due 
to which they are in need of ongoing mental treatment.



This brought upon the initiative to form a class action against the 
German government, demanding that it bear the costs of the 
psychological and psychiatric treatment many of the survivors' 
children are forced to undergo due to their childhood in the shadow 
of the Holocaust.



According to data provided by the Amcha association, which offers 
mental and social support to Holocaust survivors and second 
generation members, about 4 percent of the 350,000 children of Shoah 
survivors living in Israel (about 14,000 people) are in need of 
mental treatment.



Amcha currently treats 878 members of the second generation who 
finance the treatment themselves. On average, each patient receives 
80 hours of treatment a year, at the cost of NIS 300 (about $73.75) 
per hour.



According to the association, the annual cost of mental treatment for 
the second generation Holocaust survivors living in Israel amounts to 
approximately NIS 34 million ($8.35 million).



'We heard shocking stories'

Based on these data, a draft lawsuit was formed for members of the 
second generation along with law offices in Germany and the United 
States.



"The distorted connection developed between members of the second 
generation and their parents has definitely delayed their independent 
development and even caused them, in retrospect, to experience 
significant regression in their relations with other people, as well 
as severe mental and psychological damage," according to the draft 
lawsuit.



"Therefore, it is time to make Germany – who was the one to set in 
motion the wheels of the Nazi machine for the destruction of the 
Jewish people, and the one responsible for the death of 6 million 
Jews, and who in its criminal acts violated the human rights of the 
Jewish people and its descendants – to recognize the fact that these 
actions caused and still cause unbearable mental and psychological 
damage to members of the second generation," the lawsuit continued.



"While working on the lawsuit, we heard shocking stories," Attorney 
Fisher said Thursday. "We heard of people who put their shoes next to 
the door every night preparing to escape, or of people who wake up 
every morning at 4 am and look for their father under the bed.



"This is what they went through during their entire childhood. Every 
night their father went under the bed, hid there and begged them not 
to take him away, and they had to take him out of their and convince 
him that everything was okay."



<"http://a.total-media.net/event.ng/Type=click&FlightID=3994&AdID=5064&TargetID=1353&Segments=204,473,983,1027,1039,1071,1082,1227&Targets=1353&Values=31,43,51,63,77,86,91,101,110,150,264,496,766,771,779,840,862,916,917,939,6868,7658,9224,9326,9329,9337&Ra>
According to the plan, the Fisher Fund will establish a daughter-fund 
to collect the funds received from Germany, in addition to funds 
collected from Israeli donors, which will be designated for two 
goals: Mental treatment for second generation members, and a 
photographed documentation of the second generation and its difficult 
childhood experiences.



"We saw before our eyes the Dutch model, in which the German 
government finances two weekly treatments for second generation 
member for their entire life," explained Baruch Mazor, CEO of the 
Fisher Fund, who is also a son of Holocaust survivors.



"The second generation members don’t want compensation from the 
Germans; they only want to be entitled for treatment which will get 
them back on their feet," he said.



Second generation members in need of assistance, who would like to 
join the move, as well as organizations wishing to help the second 
generation members, can receive information by calling 
972-77-200-9798.


More information about the Zgrams mailing list