Holocaust Restitution Payments

There are few events in human history as universally horrifying as the Holocaust, when six million Jews lost their lives at the hands of a bunch of nutballs and nutball sympathizers. And even though the war this malarkey led to ended decidedly not in the favor of said nutballs...the damage had been done. People were dead. Other people’s lives had been ruined, either emotionally, financially, physically, or all three. And the Allies decided that something had to be done to make it right.

Enter Holocaust restitution payments, one of the somethings the Allies decided to make happen. Holocaust restitution payments are predetermined payments made by the governments of Germany and Austria—the primary perpetrators of WWII-inducing anti-Semitic violence—to Holocaust victims and their families.

There were different types of payments made available; some are taxable (such as payments made for stuff stolen by the Nazis) and some aren’t (such as payments made as a result of predatory discriminatory behavior…like murder). Though most of the funds have expired by now, some still exist.

We can’t erase the fact that the Holocaust happened, but with restitution payments, at least we can try and ease a little of the burden for its survivors and their heirs.