Felicia Grunfeder v. Margaret M. Heckler, Secretary of Health and Human Services

This case presents a question of first impression whether reparations, paid by the German Federal Republic for injury to body and health pursuant to the German Restitution Act of 1956 (GRA), constitute countable “income” for purposes of determining eligibility for supplemental security income (SSI) benefits under the Social Security Act (SSA), 42 U.S.C. §§ 1381-85 (1976 & Supp. V 1981). The Secretary concluded that the reparations in this case, based on a loss of earning capacity caused by Nazi persecution, are to be counted as “income” in determining the recipient’s eligibility for SSI benefits. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 (1976) and affirm.

FACTS

During World War II, Felicia Grunfeder, a Polish Jew born in 1938, was incarcerated in the Warsaw ghetto for several years. In 1943, her mother delivered her to a non-Jewish couple, who held out the child as their own. In 1945, Grunfeder and her mother were reunited, and both relocated in the United States in 1949.

Grunfeder suffered psychological effects from her incarceration in the Warsaw ghetto and from the separation from her mother. In the mid 1960’s, she petitioned the German government for reparations under…