Biden announces effort to help Holocaust survivors

US administration plans to help non-profits provide needed services, and to use diplomacy to resolve Nazi-era property claims

By AP 12 December 2013, 2:16 am

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Holocaust survivors Joe Chaba, 85, and his wife, Helen, 89, sit together on the rooftop of the Selfhelp Home retirement community, in Chicago (photo credit: AP/M. Spencer Green/File)

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is working to help Holocaust survivors in the United States, many of them living in poverty, by coordinating assistance, working with aid groups and using diplomatic means to help recover property confiscated during the Nazi era.

Vice President Joe Biden announced the effort this week in a speech to the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. The administration says 100,000 Holocaust survivors are in the United States, and 25 percent live below the poverty level.

Biden said a “special envoy” to the Health and Human Services Department will help nonprofit groups provide survivors with needed services, as will AmeriCorps and VISTA volunteers.

He said the administration will work with the World Jewish Restitution Organizations to help resolve property claims, especially in Eastern and Central Europe.