The deadline for former NS forced laborers to submit their applications for restitution has been extended until the end of year 2003. Also, the deadline set for submitting claims for “aryanized” long-term leases at fixed rates and household goods and personal effects are being extended until the end of year 2004.
The time limit for applications submitted for lump sum payments according to the Washington agreement of January 2001 has been terminated as of last year. However, some claimants have missed out on this deadline, said the Secretary General of the National Fund, Hannah Lessing.
At the present time more than 18,000 victims have received a sum of US $7,000, each. One reckons that more than 3,000 payments will be made in the future. A total of US $150 million are at the funds disposal.
The applications which are not affected by the extended deadline are those which fall under the General Law of the Restitution Fund. The time limit set for this is May 28, 2003. Around US $210 million is to be distributed among those applications which are recognized as being valid.
Pending are those payments that are dependent on the outcome of the two class action suits in the U.S.
Currently 600 Holocaust survivors or family dependants have received US $3 million from the Bank Austria-Holocaust-Settlement-Fund. The number of persons who have applied has reached 60,000. Not all of them will receive restitution.