Recently, some applicants to the Polish pension have been asked to send in a letter to Poland granting them permission to make an inquiry with the Claims Conference. This is in stark contrast to a previous statement from UDSKiOR (The Office of Veterans and Victims of Oppression) that “reparations from German institutions is not a basis for giving Veterans’ rights on the basis of the currently applicable law.”
In response to a query, a worker in the German office of the Claims Conference stated that “UDSKiOR will not approve a case exclusively based on an earlier ZRBG/BEG decision but such a document is at least a strong argument in favor of a applicant and the persecution he/she describes. So everyone who has a ZRBG or BEG document at hand should submit it with his application. It is at least an important piece of the puzzle of documentation.”
Thus it is advised that Polish pension applicants send in along with their applications any life certificates or award letters from the ZRBG (Ghetto pension), BEG (AKA “Wiedergutmachung”) or Article 2 (administered by the Claims Conference) if they receive any of them. You may send any of these to us for limited translation of the relevant sections.
Thank you very much. I have been using the permission letter to contact the CLaims Conference, which is on polishpensionhelp.org, for the past couple of weeks. Thank you for preparing that for us.
My challenge is always getting the account number(s) and document(s) of account from those on BEG/ZRBG. Some people do not keep records. As I notarize or certify Life Certificates, we make sure we keep a copy for the file. Several people still go to their local bank or a building manager to complete the certificate. Health, frailty, transportation always make a difference. Never run away from the challenge though.
Donna, yes, in my office we also try to keep to keep copies of the BEG/ZRBG/Article 2 life certificates, but as you say some clients do it on their own. Now we’re going to start writing Germany for proof of BEG/ZRBG pension for those who don’t have any and are going to apply or have applied to the Polish pension but haven’t heard back. It’s more time and effort and it takes about a month or so to get anything back, but at least it’s something to help an applicant who has no other evidence.
Thanks. Do you have a specific contact name at any of the offices? Would be great not to get lost in the bureaucracy. Time is not on our side. Really appreciate all that you do.
Donna
Donna, I wish we did. The ZRBG offices apparently do not assign email addresses to their employees. Or if they do, they are only to be used internally. The only email address I have is for Munich for the BEG. If you would like that, please email me at translation AT polishpensionhelp.org