German Labor Ministry Says Unaware Of Former Nazis On Its Pension Roll In Sweden

The German Labor and Social Affairs Ministry is unaware whether there are any former Nazis among the recipients of its payments in Sweden, since it is up to the federal lands to check the eligibility of such allowances, according to the ministry's official reply to Sputnik's inquiry

BERLIN (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 19th March, 2019) The German Labor and Social Affairs Ministry is unaware whether there are any former Nazis among the recipients of its payments in Sweden, since it is up to the federal lands to check the eligibility of such allowances, according to the ministry's official reply to Sputnik's inquiry.

In early March, Swedish media reported that 15 people, currently living in the kingdom and receiving monthly payments from the German government, were presumably former Nazi collaborators. According to the Dagens Nyheter newspaper, at least two recipients served in Waffen-SS units.

"In Sweden, there are currently 14 people receiving payments under the Federal War Victims Relief Act (BVG) ... It can be both Swedish citizens and German citizens who permanently reside in Sweden. It is the responsibility of lands to provide such payments to those eligible and check the eligibility of the payments. The German Labor Ministry is unaware of the Names of BVG payments' recipients.

Nor is it aware of any proof of involvement of recipients of certain payments in the crimes," the official reply, received by Sputnik on Tuesday, said.

Back in February, Belgian lawmakers demanded that Germany stop paying pensions to former Nazi collaborators in Belgium after a local war victims' group, Remembrance, found 27 of them were still getting money.

The ministry then similarly said that it was unaware of any former Nazis on its pension roll. The ministry's spokeswoman, Jarmila Schneider, said that BVG payments were connected to the health damage inflicted by military service, the effects of war or other related circumstances. The recipients also include civilians, in particular victims of war bombings or detonations of unexploded World War II bombs.

In 1998, Germany amended the BVG act to exclude recipients with a record of wartime violations of humanity and rule of law principles, and it was up to federal states to run checks on them.