Judah Gribetz, the former aide to New York Gov. Hugh L. Carey who later designed the distribution plan for more than $1.25 billion in restitution from Swiss banks to Holocaust survivors and other victims of Nazi persecution, died Friday at his home in the Rockaway Park neighborhood of Queens. He was 97.
Gribetz was appointed by Brooklyn federal Judge Edward R. Korman to develop a framework for distributing the settlement reached in a class-action lawsuit against Swiss banks. The lawsuit accused the banks of causing additional harm to victims of Nazi persecution by failing to return assets entrusted to them during World War II.
The settlement covered more than 500,000 claimants, including Jews whose deposits were never returned, former enslaved laborers whose employers held revenues in Swiss banks, and individuals whose property looted by the Nazis had been disposed of through Swiss institutions.
Gribetz’s assignment as a “Solomonic role,” which required him “to adjudicate between the competing needs of different groups of aging Holocaust survivors, from Florida to Ukraine,” The Forward wrote.
After 18 months of work, Gribetz presented Korman with a 900-page plan. It allocated up to $800 million to survivors or their heirs whose claims involving unreturned bank deposits were validated, with payments adjusted for inflation.
The remaining $450 million was designated for other eligible claimants, including former enslaved laborers, who initially received $1,000 each, later increased to $1,450, as well as needy victims whose property had been looted and who received assistance through various programs.
By 2020, nearly $1.288 billion, including accumulated interest beyond the original settlement amount, had been distributed or allocated to more than 458,400 claimants.
Looking back on the effort in an interview with The New York Times, Gribetz said the work had been demanding but “very satisfying.”
“We tried to do as transparent and as far-reaching a solution as possible,” he said.
Born on April 1, 1929, in Brooklyn, Gribetz was the son of Abraham and Ida (Heller) Gribetz. His father became executive director of the Hebrew Free Loan Society in 1938, helping immigrants in need.
