Who is a “Holocaust survivor” and thereby entitled to distribution proceeds?
Another contentious issue of the Holocaust restitution movement has been how to allocate the funds received. The simple answer, of course, is that the moneys should go to the still-living Holocaust survivors. But this begs another important and even more sensitive question: which individuals can rightfully be called Holocaust survivors? Those who survived concentration camps, ghettoes, and death camps claim that only they can be called Holocaust survivors.14 Individuals who lost their entire families, quite apart from all their assets, but personally managed to escape the Nazis by emigration or flight vehemently challenge this view. Then there are the so-called child survivors – people who, as infants and older, either were hidden by Gentiles or survived under false identities – who also justifiably claim the status of Holocaust survivor. For example, who would deny Anne Frank the status of survivor if she and her family had survived the war without being betrayed? As for the assertion
