The procedure for making the 35% payment is the same as for the first part: the Ukrainian Foundation compiles lists of claimants for payment, submits them to the German side for verification and approval, after which funds from Germany are transferred to Ukraine personally to each approved recipient.
An appropriate schedule for submitting lists for verification and accrual of funds has been agreed and approved with the German Foundation. On 5 May 2004, funds arrived in Ukraine for 50 thousand persons from the first list submitted for approval to the Federal Republic of Germany on 16 February 2004. According to the law of the Federal Republic of Germany 'On Making Payments to Victims of Nazism', this list includes former prisoners of concentration camps, ghettos, other places of detention, and former forced industrial workers over the age of 80 and disabled persons. The second list of 100 thousand persons was sent to the German Foundation on 30 April.
As of today, as planned, the processing of documents of claimants from the reserve list (those who did not have the full package of documents required for the appointment of the 65% payment) has been fully completed, and they have also been submitted for approval to the German side. The total number of Nazi victims receiving payment from the German Foundation is about 473 thousand people. Several cases are under consideration by the appeals commission, the positive resolution of which may increase this number.
As of 1 May 2004, 487,824 people (including special legal successors) had received payment from the German Foundation for a total of 533,681,314.93 euros.
Payments to former prisoners of concentration camps and ghettos, forced industrial workers (i.e., categories unambiguously defined by the law of the Federal Republic of Germany) and their special legal successors are planned to be completed by the end of 2004.
In January 2005, the payment of the second part to citizens of other categories will begin - those who have been assigned payment under the broadening clause of the law of the Federal Republic of Germany 'On Making Payments to Victims of Nazism' (§11), which allowed partner organizations to expand the circle of payment recipients. That is, former forced agricultural workers, children deported with their parents and born in captivity, child donors, and the 'prison' category.
When the German side decides to start paying 35% for these categories, the amount of the additional payment will also be determined, the decision on which (if there are remaining funds) was made by the Supervisory Board of the UNF.
Payment of the second part from the funds of the German Federal Foundation 'Memory, Responsibility and Future' is planned to be completed in 2005 by the day of the 60th anniversary of the end of World War II.
We remind all claimants for payment:
l Payments are made on the basis of the requirements of German legislation - the law 'On the Establishment of the Federal Foundation "Memory, Responsibility and Future"' - which establishes the circle of recipients, the circle of special legal successors, the procedure for processing documents, and the conditions for obtaining the right to payment.
l Special legal successors may irrevocably lose their right to payment if, within six months from the date of death of the Nazi victim, they do not submit the necessary documents to the regional branch of the Ukrainian Foundation at the recipient's last place of residence.
The Ukrainian Foundation has largely completed processing the documents of citizens who claimed payment from the Austrian Reconciliation Fund, since, in accordance with the law of the Republic of Austria on the 'Reconciliation, Peace and Cooperation' fund, the acceptance of applications and documents was terminated on 31 December 2003. Over 42 thousand people applied for payment from the Austrian Fund. Payments were awarded to 42,459 victims of slave and forced labor. As of 1 May 2004, payments had been made to 42,227 persons totaling 81,795,187.34 euros. The last list of 398 people was transferred to the Austrian Fund on 18 May 2004.
From the very beginning of its activities, the Ukrainian Foundation paid considerable attention to humanitarian aid for citizens who suffered National Socialist persecution during World War II. In addition to payments for forced labor, orthopedic surgery programs are being implemented in Ukraine by the Austrian and German sides.
The Austrian Fund 'Reconciliation, Peace and Cooperation' finances this program jointly with the Austrian Society of Orthopedics and Orthopedic Surgery. It concerns joint replacement for Nazi victims and their relatives. Travel, accommodation, surgery, and postoperative care are free for the Nazi victim. An accompanying person necessarily travels with the Nazi victim - also at the expense of the Austrian side. At this stage, five out of 20 people have already been operated on, one has been called for surgery, and five are awaiting the call.
Four people have been operated on with funds from the German Foundation. 160 people have expressed a desire to undergo surgery. Full packages of documents for 30 people have been sent to Germany, and five have been operated on.
The Ukrainian Foundation carries out work to identify persons in need of surgery, coordinates and clarifies (surgery is not indicated for everyone who wants it) with organizers and doctors, organizes the preparation of necessary medical documents and visas, the purchase of tickets, the dispatch and meeting of citizens in need of surgery and their accompanying persons.
The Foundation is also actively searching for and establishing contacts with a variety of organizations engaged in charitable activities in the interests of Nazi victims, which has produced quite tangible results. To date, more than forty humanitarian aid projects have been carried out and are being implemented. The amount of aid, covering more than eight thousand citizens, totals about 6.5 million euros. These include, in particular, trips of former forced laborers to the places where their years of captivity passed; the granting of financial assistance outside the scope of the German Foundation's activities; the purchase (from funds of German cities or public associations), assembly and presentation of sets of medicines and medical supplies.