BOSTON (AP) – The date is burned into Israel Arbeiter’s memory – April 25, 1945, his 20th birthday and the day French forces liberated him and other Nazi death camp survivors during a forced march on a German highway at the end of World War II.

Arbeiter, who survived Auschwitz but lost his parents and a brother to the concentration camps, is one of about 3,000 Holocaust survivors living in Massachusetts.

Like many survivors, Arbeiter, who still bears a Nazi serial number tattooed into his forearm, receives restitution payments from the German government.

Under a new program developed by state banking officials, local Holocaust survivor groups, and the Massachusetts Bankers Association, a third of the state’s banks have agreed to voluntarily waive wire transfer fees for overseas restitution payments for survivors of Nazi persecution.

Although the average fee for a wire transfer is relatively modest, about $15, the money can add up for survivors, many of whom are living on modest or fixed budgets. Their average age is 80.

About 60 of the state’s 180 banks have already agreed to waive the fees and promoters of the program say they hope more will sign on.

Arbeiter, who describes himself as a “former slave” who wasn’t allowed to walk on the sidewalk in his hometown in Poland, said the program helps honor those who suffered at the hands of the Nazis.

“While compensation can never reimburse the Holocaust survivors for the horrors committed against them they should at least benefit fully from the payments that are available to them,” said Arbeiter, president of the American Association of Jewish Holocaust Survivors of Greater Boston.

The monthly reparations can vary from $250 to $900 a month depending on the extent of injuries suffered during the Holocaust. State officials did not have an estimate about how much the program would cost banks in lost fees.