US embassy cable - 05VIENNA3852

UNCLAS VIENNA 003852 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR EUR/OHI AND EUR/AGS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KNAR, PHUM, PGOV, AU 
SUBJECT:  GSF Payments to Begin; Reconciliation Fund 
Wraps Up 
 
 
THIS MESSAGE IS SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED. 
 
Start of GSF Payments 
--------------------- 
 
1. (U) At a December 9 press conference, Parliamentary 
President Andreas Khol (and chairman of the General 
Settlement Fund, or GSF) and GSF Secretary General Hannah 
Lessing announced that, as a result of the dismissal of 
the Whiteman case by the U.S. federal court for the 
southern district of New York on December 7, the GSF will 
commence advance payments before the end of 2005.  (The 
January 2001 U.S.-Austrian Washington Agreement set up 
the GSF to provide payments to victims of National 
Socialism and their heirs.)  On December 13, the cabinet 
will declare legal peace, paving the way for the advance 
payments.  The GSF Claims Committee will meet December 
14, and the GSF board on December 15.  The GSF will then 
send letters to 2,700 claimants whose cases have been 
processed and decided, informing them about the advance 
payments.  After their reply and acceptance, the GSF will 
transfer the money to them.  A further 3,000 claims (out 
of a total of 19,300) are ready for Claims Committee 
action.  Khol and Lessing estimated that approximately 
1,000 - 1,200 payments will follow each month. 
 
Size of Payments 
---------------- 
 
2. (U) Regarding the size of the payments out of the USD 
210 million GSF, Khol said that, as advance payments, 
claimants will receive a percentage of the loss claimed. 
The ceiling for an advance payment is USD 2 million. 
Khol indicated that, in the GSF's pro-rata distribution 
system, these advance payments will be fairly close to 
the final sum awarded to claimants.  The GSF commissioned 
two analyses by university statistics institutes to 
determine the percentages for the advance payments. 
 
GSF Law and Amendment 
--------------------- 
 
3. (U) The original law setting up the GSF went into 
force the day it was gazetted, on May 28, 2001, under 
Federal Law Gazette number 58/2001.  The Lower House of 
Parliament passed the amendment of the GSF law providing 
for the possibility of advance payments on November 16, 
2005; the Upper House followed suit December 1. 
Promulgation of the amendment should take place within a 
few days. 
 
Reconciliation Fund 
------------------- 
 
4. (SBU) The Reconciliation Fund to compensate Nazi-era 
forced and slave laborers held the last meeting of its 
board of trustees on December 5.  In total, the Fund has 
spent 352 million Euro to compensate over 131,000 former 
forced and slave laborers.  EUR/AGS Director A. Daniel 
Weygandt represented the U.S. at the meeting, which 
accepted the accounting reports of the Fund's payments 
and decided on further projects for use of the Fund's 
surplus.  The meeting also addressed problems with the 
Polish partner organization, which could not provide full 
documentation on the use of money earmarked for Polish 
former forced and slave laborers.  The Polish 
organization has also failed to transfer its unexpended 
surplus back to the Reconciliation Fund for inclusion in 
the Future Fund. 
 
McCAW