A Pension Plan for Nazi Followers

FIFTY YEARS AFTER WORLD WAR II, THE THIRD REICH’S CRACK troops are cashing in. Many Czechs, Poles and other East Europeans served in Hitler’s SS but hid their past after the end of World War II for fear of retribution from ruling communist governments. Now that communism is fading, SS veterans are going public to collect pensions from the German government. Germany’s social security system has awarded $190-a-month payments (a small fortune in the Baltics) to more than 250 disabled SS veterans in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Says Latvian SS veteran and pension receiver Boris Mikhailov: “Thank you, Germany, thank you.” Latvian Jews who survived the Holocaust, it should be noted, haven’t got a red cent.