75 years after the second world war rages a political struggle about the German krigspensioner to residents of Belgium. It is a group of belgian parliamentarians that responded to the data about persons who collaborated with the nazi regime is receiving pension from the neighbouring country.
According to a resolution tabled in the belgian parliament’s foreign affairs committee, it involves less than 30 people each month, can add to the income with payments from Germany. Among the recipients, there may also be people who voluntarily joined the paramilitary organisation the Waffen-SS, reports several media.
the committee to set requirements for chancellor Angela Merkel’s government to the country immediately puts a stop to the payments. They also want Germany to name the recipients, whose identities are unknown to the belgian authorities.
”Pension payments to the persons who have cooperated with one of history’s worst mördarregimer is in contradiction with the european project work of memory and peace”, said the meps in a post that the German nyhetsbolaget Deutsche Welle quotes.
the Payments are based on a decree of Hitler issued in 1941, reports the british newspaper the Guardian and several other media. This meant that foreign citizens who swore allegiance and obedience to the Nazis promised pensions on the same conditions as German nationals.
provides a somewhat different picture of the scope and purpose of the transfers.
– It is a compensation for people who suffered personal injuries in connection with the war effort, not because they belonged to the Wehrmacht (the armed forces of Nazi germany red note) or the Waffen-SS, writes a spokesman in an email to DN.
According to the ministry, it involves a total of 18 people – not 30 – that such ”krigspensioner”, some of which can be German citizens. Of them should not have been a member of the Waffen-SS and no one has nor have been convicted of crimes against human rights committed under the national socialism, writes the ministry to the DN. Of the account, inter alia, persondataskyddet want Germany not to disclose further information about the beneficiaries.
the much-debated pensions, inflict battle between the neighbouring countries. A group of belgian parliamentarians visited the 2017 Berlin to urge Germany to stop the payment, and the irritation that they have continued is great.
the Criticism also comes from the German Left party Die Linke which has repeatedly accused the Merkel government of not doing enough to stop the payment.
” It is unacceptable that the nazi-collaborators will receive pension payments for decades while the nazi victims must fight for compensation, says Ulla Jelpke, member of Die Linke in the bundestag to Deutsche Welle.
According to calculations from the belgian historian Alvin de Coninck, it is about between about 4,500 sek 13.000 sek per person and month.
