Kurt May was director of The United Restitution Organization, which assisted victims of Nazism, from its inception in 1948 to his retirement at age 91, in 1988. For more than forty years he played a leading role in efforts to obtain compensation for Jews who had been persecuted, maltreated and robbed of their possessions by the Nazis. He presided over a worldwide organization with branches in 19 countries and a staff of more than 1000. In the course of its existence, the URO aided over 500,000 people.