Memory should teach us that the “Road to Auschwitz” to Auschwitz”

During the last 23 years I have had the honor of participating as a member of the Claims Conference negotiating delegation. I was particularly proud as I was the first woman to participate in the delegation. For me this is not a “job” but a “mission” as I am the daughter and granddaughter of Holocaust survivors. This role has led me to work tirelessly for increased compensation to be paid to individuals and for funding to assist survivors to live in dignity in their old age. This assistance provides for social welfare services such as home care, food, medicine and more. But in this journey, the past intermingles with the present and teaches us lessons for the future.

The Claims Conference negotiates with the German Ministry of Finance located in the building built by Herman Goering in the 1930s. It has thousands of rooms and it is rumored that Goering insisted that it was large enough for a small plane to land on the roof. A labyrinth of thousands of rooms and except for the addition of computer cables and the removal of the Nazi emblems — it is seemingly unchanged. It is a haunting place. It is difficult not to sit in a room and contemplate whether the Battle of Britain was planned there — or perhaps the campaign in North Africa.

When the Claims Conference negotiates in that building it is impossible not to feel the weight of history but we also feel the burden and privilege of negotiating to assist survivors.

My most enduring recollections are from two incidents that occurred on the very first day that I went to the building. The first was a conversation with Noach Flug z”l. Noach was a survivor of Lodz Ghetto and Auschwitz (and many other camps). He moved to Israel and became a diplomat of the State of Israel and upon retirement dedicated himself to advocating for survivors and among other roles was the President of the International Auschwitz Committee and head of the Center of Organizations of Holocaust Survivors in Israel. Prior to our meeting with the German Government in Berlin, the Claims Conference regularly travelled to Bonn for negotiations. Our first trip to Berlin was in mid 2000 as the Federal Government only relocated different parts of its administration in stages to the capital. As we entered the building, Noach Flug whispered to me “if I would have said in Auschwitz that I would one day walk freely around Goering’s headquarters, they would have thought I had really become mad”. It was an iconic moment that I will never forget. The second recollection from that day was a phone call I made upon leaving the building. I called my Opa (grandfather) in Australia. He had fled Berlin and arrived in Australia in March 1939. He had never returned despite offers of trips from the City of Berlin. He asked me where I was calling from in Berlin, I told him the address and there was silence on the other end of the phone. He said not a word except to ask me if I was alright and I could tell that his memory was that of the building festooned with Nazi swastikas where Jews never entered or if they did, they never left. It was as if he could not believe his granddaughter entered and left the building.

Memory is part of every aspect of our work and drives us at the Claims Conference to fulfill our mission. But more than just recalling the past it demonstrates the resilience of survivors. Noach Flug’s story demonstrated that he not only dedicated his life to assisting the State of Israel but helping survivors everywhere. Incredulously — even perhaps to him— from the depths of Auschwitz he was now meeting with Ministers and Chancellors. He married another survivor, raised a family and his daughter became Governor of the Bank of Israel. My own Opa reestablished his life and opened a small store. He had a daughter and grandchildren. While more “ordinary,” it too was like all other survivors “extraordinary” — as he fled with nothing but memories.

Each time the Claims Conference prepares for negotiations we identify the individuals that can be assisted by the liberalizations and funding the Claims Conference is pressing from the German Government. Over the years we have achieved dozens of liberalizations from the recognition of the trauma of living under false identity to newly researched labor camps in Hungary, Rumania and Bulgaria. The German government has paid more than $90 billion in indemnification to individuals for suffering and losses resulting from persecution by the Nazis. While the Claims Conference is proud of the accomplishments of the previous decades, we are painfully aware of the ongoing challenges faced by survivors in their twilight years as the survivors continue to live with scars of the Shoah — sometimes physical and sometimes psychological.

We emphasize how they suffered — we listen to their memories — and most importantly we focus on their life after the war and where the intervening decades have taken them. Their resilience and courage in the face of suffering and immeasurable loss is awe inspiring. For some the post war years have been easier than others. For no-one was it simple. No one can fathom where they found the strength to put their lives together to the extent that they did. All I know is that “memory” is not only the past but how we arrive at the present. Most importantly it teaches us lessons for the future.

During our work we meet survivors that insist that the suffering they endured should not happen to any other group for whatever reason. That is the enduring impact of “memory’” — it needs to empower us to strive with all possible means to ensure a future without hate of the “other” and prejudice against those that are “different”. Memory needs to teach us that the “Road to Auschwitz” did not have to be the ”Road to Auschwitz.” ■

Karen Heilig serves as the Assistant Executive Vice President of the Claims Conference and General Counsel. Since 1999 she has participated in negotiations between the Claims Conference and the German Government, the Austrian Government and negotiations on unpaid Holocaust era insurance policies. Heilig acted as the Producer of the documentary film Reckonings released in 2022 which