Germany expands pensions to more Holocaust survivors

By KIRSTEN GRIESHABER
Associated Press

BERLIN (AP) — The organization that handles claims on behalf of Jews who suffered under the Nazis says Germany has agreed to extend compensation to Jewish survivors who endured the World War II siege of Leningrad and two other groups who had not received any monthly pensions from Germany. The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany said Wednesday the payments will be going to approximately 6,500 survivors around the world, primarily in Israel, North America, the former Soviet Union and Western Europe. The new funds are targeted toward about 4,500 Jews who survived the Leningrad siege during World War II, about 800 who lived mostly in hiding in France during the Nazi’s terror reign, and 1,200 Jewish survivors from Romania.