The U.S. Supreme Court this week began hearing arguments for a pair of cases brought on by Holocaust survivors and their families seeking compensation from Germany and Hungary for property they allege was seized and stolen from them during World War II.
The lawsuit against Hungary and its state-run railway company was first brought in 2010 by 14 Jewish survivors, including four U.S. citizens. They allege their possessions and those of their families were stolen when they boarded trains bound for Nazi concentration camps.
The justices will decide whether the cases against Germany and Hungary can proceed in the American court system. The Supreme Court’s decision could lead to similar lawsuits against foreign countries.
Among the legal counsel involved in the case is attorney Charles S. “Chuck” Fax, of the law firm Rifkin Weiner Livingston LLC. Fax is co-lead counsel among a team of lawyers bringing a class action suit in federal court seeking reparations from the Hungarian government. Other lead counsel for the plaintiffs include attorneys L. Marc Zell, Paul G. Gaston and David H. Weinstein, as well as Liesel J. Schopler, who is also with Rifkin Weiner Livingston.
The following is a 2018 Jmore interview with Fax about the case, conducted by Peter Arnold.
What is the focus of this lawsuit?
Our primary focus is on a few thousand survivors in Israel, Canada, Australia, the U.S. and elsewhere, and on behalf of their estates. There is one elderly survivor in Baltimore and one in New Jersey. We are asking for restitution of property stolen from them and their families. We cannot sue for pain, suffering and mental anguish because under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, we can only sue for stolen property.
We seek several billion dollars in restitution for all property taken from Hungarian Jews, plus interest, well beyond Hungary’s negligible payments so far. But this case is not solely about the money for plaintiffs who are in their 80s and 90s. We also want the world to understand what Hungary did, and we want Hungary to acknowledge its role in the Holocaust, accepting responsibility for its actions.
How are you and your colleagues compensated?
If we win the case, the court could order Hungary to compensate us. We’ve been at it for eight years, and the case could go on for many more years. We the lawyers have been paying all the costs, including for example my trips to Hungary, which my law firm paid for.
How would you describe contemporary Hungary?
It is one of the most anti-Semitic, right-wing cultures in Europe. In its capital, Budapest, there is increasing anti-Semitism, manifested mainly by anti-Semitic acts committed against Jewish property and escalating anti-Semitic rhetoric in public. Between 75,000-100,000 Jews live in and around Budapest, which is a beautiful city. Budapest has the largest Jewish population in Central Europe, with some 20 synagogues. But their situation is precarious because of the increased atmosphere of insecurity.
Regarding fulfillment of reparations, how would you compare Hungary to Germany?
There is no comparison. Germany has acknowledged its role in the Holocaust. Germany has gone to great lengths to address the issue of reparations and, from a historical standpoint, established monuments memorializing the Holocaust. They deserve credit for that. Germany sets an example for all of post-World War II Europe.
Hungary has only made payments to Holocaust survivors that are trivial in the extreme, and Hungary continues to frustrate attempts to get real reparations. Hungary has failed to come to grips with its culpability during the Holocaust.
What are the next steps in this case?
We have set up the Holocaust Victims Action Fund. As a 501(c) (3) organization, tax-deductible contributions to support the litigation can be made to: Holocaust Victims Action Fund, c/o Director Gary Simms, 9010 Levelle Dr., Chevy Chase, Md. 20815-5608. As we begin the next phase of this litigation, we seek to raise $1 million to involve additional experts, the necessary translation of more papers in Hungarian and German and to present new legal strategies which will help us to achieve our reparations goals.
What are the prospects for winning the lawsuit?
That’s hard to say, but we’ve been engaged for eight years and we are confident we will continue to be engaged. On the second appeal of the dismissal of the complaint, for example, counsel for Hungary argued that the suit belonged in that country. Appellate Judge Patricia Millett [of the U.S. Court of Appeals] responded, in part, “I don’t get why you [the Hungarian government] cry about your rights when what you did was in violation of international law, basic laws of humanity. … [You represent] a government that committed amongst the worst atrocities in the history of mankind.”
We have high confidence that we will prevail.
A former college campus activist, Veksler will speak at Chizuk Amuno on June 8 at the Ruth and Jay Lenrow Visiting Scholar-in-Residence for Combating Antisemitism.
A lifelong Baltimorean, Judge Rosenberg served as a U.S. magistrate judge from 1973 to 1998.
A former resident of Baltimore and central Florida, Ritt was active in the Soviet Jewry movement of the 1970s and 1980s.