With the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. as a backdrop, the German delegation met with the Claims Conference negotiating delegation and heard first-hand testimony from survivors about the critical need for funding increases. The negotiations resulted in a €75 million ($87.75 million) increase in funding for social welfare services for Holocaust survivors, bringing total global allocations for 2019 to €480 ($564 million).

In addition to the funding increase for social welfare services, negotiations this year achieved the following:

• Article 2 and Central and Eastern European Fund (CEEF) pensions, which the Claims Conference pays to 55,000 Holocaust survivors will increase by 53.6% over the next three years from €352 ($411) to €541 ($633). The first increase to €415 ($485) will commence on January 1, 2019.
• The criteria for the Child Survivor Fund payments has been liberalized. The length of time child survivors need to have been in hiding or living under false identity was reduced from six months to four months.