70 Years of Holocaust Compensation and Restitution - International Conference
ANU - Museum of the Jewish People, Tel Aviv University
The Goldstein-Goren Diaspora Research Center, The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (Claims Conference) and Yad Vashem were pleased to host the international conference:
70 Years of Holocaust Compensation and Restitution
The event took place on Monday-Wednesday, November 14-16, 2022, at ANU - Museum of the Jewish People, Tel Aviv University.
The event was recorded and the lectures are now available through the Goldstein-Goren Diaspora Research Center’s YouTube Channel.
Monday, November 14, 2022
10:00 – 11:00 Reception
11:00 – 12:30 Opening Session
Chair and Opening Remarks: Roni Stauber
Greetings
Dani Dayan, Chairman of Yad Vashem
Greg Schneider, Executive Vice President of the Claims Conference
Steffen Seibert, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to the State of Israel
Stuart Eizenstat, former United States Ambassador to the European Union and United States Deputy Secretary of the Treasury (Pre-recorded)
Milette Shamir, Vice President, International, Tel Aviv University
12:30 – 13:00 Coffee Break
13:00 – 14:00 Keynote
Constantin Goschler
Some Reflections on the Historiography of Holocaust Reparations and the Future of Reparations for Genocides
Respondent: José Brunner
14:00 – 15:30 Lunch Break
15:30 – 18:00 First Session: The Origins of the Luxembourg Agreement
Chair: Dina Porat
Ronald Zweig
Nehemiah Robinson, the Institute for Jewish Affairs and the Origins of Reparations
Gideon Reuveni
The September 27 German Declaration on the ‘Judenfrage:’ A Misread Turning Point?
Jacob Tovy
Post-Holocaust Reckoning: The Public-Political Campaign in Israel over the Issue of Reparations, 1951–1952
Shlomi Chetrit
“Battlefield in Front of the Knesset”: The Police and the Restitution Riots, January 7, 1952
18:00 – 18:30 Coffee Break
18:30 – 20:00 Screening of the film Reckonings
Presented by the producer, Karen Heilig
Tuesday, November 15, 2022
10:00 – 12:30 Second Session: The Negotiation Process and Implementation of the Luxembourg Agreement
Chair: Michael Borchard
Kai Wambach
German Theme Portal Wiedergutmachung Impact, Challenges, Opportunities
Lorena De Vita
Negotiating the Luxembourg Agreements: On the Local, National and International Significance of the Talks in Wassenaar
Daniel Siemens
British Perspectives on the West-German-Israeli Negotiations and the Luxembourg Agreement, 1951–1955
Irit Chen
Between Material Baggage and Past Baggage: The Israeli Purchasing Mission to Cologne and Implementation of the Reparations Agreement
12:30 – 14:00 Lunch Break
14:00 – 16:00 Third Session: Conflicts and Consequences in Israeli Society
Chair: Amb. Colette Avital
Tzachi Cohen
Alterman's Poems Regarding the "Shilumim"
David Witzthum
The Paradigm Shift in Germany's Image in the Israeli Public Discourse following the Shilumim Agreement: From "Amalek" to a Friendly Partner in Less than a Decade, 1952–1960
Yael Mishly
Do Reparations Increase Intergenerational Mobility? Evidence from Israel’s Holocaust Survivors
16:00 – 16:30 Coffee Break
16:30 – 19:00 Fourth Session: The Consequences of Compensation for Individual Claimants
Chair: Leora Bilsky
Iris Nachum
Complicated Encounters: Jewish Claimants and German Legal Categories
Regula Ludi
What Do Reparations Do to Claimants? Looking at Reparations from a Praxeological Viewpoint
Joanna Sliwa
Compensation Programs for Jewish Child Holocaust Survivors
Gustavo Guzman
On Nationality, Property, and Re-Migration: The Impact of German Reparations on the Jews of Chile, 1952-1977
Wednesday, November 16, 2022
10:00 – 12:30 Fifth Session: The Struggle for Compensation and Restitution of Jewish Property (I)
Chair: Rudiger Mahlo
Kim Wünschmann
The Luxembourg Agreement as a Comic: A Graphic History of Restitution and Compensation
Ingo Loose
Equalization of Burdens versus Restitution: Postwar Battles between Jewish Survivors of the Holocaust and Former “Aryanizers” – Some Case Studies from Lower Silesia, 1936–1978
Rachel Blumenthal
“The Austrians Got Away with Murder”: The Difference between Germany and Austria in Dealing with their Past
Shir Kochavi
Art Restitution and National Responsibility: Israel’s Shifting Policy towards Nazi-looted Art
12:30– 14:00 Lunch Break
14:00 – 16:30 Sixth Session: The Struggle for Compensation and Restitution of Jewish Property (II)
Chair: Mark Weitzman
Avi Weber
Late Recognition of Holocaust Survivors from Behind the Iron Curtain: Legal History of German Compensation Legislation Changes Recognizing the Rights of Holocaust Survivors from the Eastern Bloc
Stefan Cristian Ionescu
Courts Reversing Robbery: Implementing the Reversal of Romanianization of Jewish Property, 1944–1950
Ana Ciric Pavlovic
Delayed Restitution of Jewish Property in Bosnia and Hercegovina: Challenges and Perspectives
16:30 – 17:00 Coffee Break
17:00 – 19:30 Seventh Session: Subsequent Developments of the Luxembourg Agreement and Recent Campaigns
Chair: Dan Michman
Wesley Fisher
From the Jewish Restitution Successor Organization to the 2018 Jerusalem Declaration: The Handling of Looted Cultural Property by the Claims Conference
Ovidiu Creanga
From Protocol II to Germany's 'Last Gesture': Legal Precedent, Uncompensated Shoah Survivors, and the Creation of the Hardship Fund (1980)
Meir Bnaya
Holocaust Compensations for North African and Middle Eastern Jews?
Blandine Landau
Local Context and Long-term Echoes of the Luxembourg Agreement of 1952 in the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg
19:30 – 20:00 Concluding Remarks