13 months of negotiations yield 10 billion DM for Nazi-era laborers

by Myroslaw Smorodsky

BERLIN - After 13 months of intense negotiations in Washington, Bonn and Berlin, German industry and representatives of slave and forced laborers and other Nazi victims reached an agreement on March 23 on the distribution and allocation of the settlement amount that had been previously agreed to as the total amount of compensation to be paid to victims of the Nazi era.

On December 17, 1999, representatives of five Central and East European countries - Belarus, the Czech Republic, Poland, Russia and Ukraine - Israel, the Jewish Claims Conference, German industry and government, and the United States government had agreed that 10 billion Deutsche marks would be paid as the total compensation package to Holocaust victims.

However, after the December accord, extensive issues remained to be agreed upon, including the allocation of the settlement amount between forced and slave laborers, the amount to be allocated to property losses, insurance claims and other wrongs, and the amount that would be set-aside for the "Future Fund."

The latter is a project that German industry and government insisted upon as a condition of settlement. Germany wished to set aside a very large part of the settlement, which would be held in perpetuity to fund future projects aimed at preventing a recurrence of the horrors of the Nazi Era.

The representatives of the victims argued that the emphasis should be placed on compensation to living victims rather than on humanitarian and educational projects, which, although laudatory, would not give direct benefit to surviving victims of the Holocaust.

The allocation issues were complicated even further by the fact that the settlement amount of 10 billion DM was in and of itself inadequate to even partially compensate for the suffering of the victims of World War II.

(Because of the fluctuating currency exchange rates, all sums referred to in this story are given in Deutsche marks [DM]. At present, the exchange ratio of a Deutsche mark to a U.S. dollar is approximately 2:1.)

The allocation that was agreed to is as follows:

• forced and slave labor, 8.1 billion Deutsche marks, augmented by a contribution from the Swiss Bank litigation case and earned interest for a total of 8.250 billion DM;
  
  
• other wrongs, 50 million DM;
  
  
• banking claims and other property claims, 200 million DM;
  
  
• banking humanitarian fund, 300 million DM for humanitarian projects;
  
  
• direct insurance claims, 150 million DM, of which 50 million DM is from earned interest;
  
  
• insurance humanitarian fund, 350 million DM for humanitarian projects;
  
  
• reserve for insurance claims, 100 million DM;
  
  
• Future Fund, 700 million DM; and
  
  
• administrative costs, 200 million DM.

The programs for humanitarian projects will be established by a foundation, to be established under German law, consisting of representatives from each of the victims' groups and participating countries, as well as German industry and government.

Based upon information received from the victims' representative groups and the Central and East European delegations, it is estimated that there are approximately 242,000 living slave laborers. In addition, there are approximately 82,000 slaves who were incarcerated in camps other than concentration camps. Known statistics indicate that approximately 575,000 individuals who worked as forced laborers for German industry are still alive. In addition, 666,000 farm laborers who were compelled to work on German farms are also survivors.

Slave laborers will receive up to 15,000 DM each. Forced laborers in industrial establishments and other camps will receive up to 5,000 DM each, and farm workers will receive up to 1,000 DM each.

Victims who reside in the Central and East European countries will receive the proceeds of the settlement from existing Reconciliation Foundations that presently exist in each country. Jewish victims who reside in the West will be paid through the Jewish Material Claims Conference.

The distribution among the various representative groups is as follows: Belarus, 0.694 billion DM; Czech Republic, 0.423 billion DM; Poland, 1.812 billion DM; Russia, 0.835 billion DM; Ukraine, 1.724 billion DM; and the Jewish Claims Conference, 1.812 billion DM.

After the war, many forced laborers, especially from Poland and Ukraine, remained in the West and emigrated to the United States, Canada and other parts of the free world, settling in major metropolitan areas such as New York and New Jersey. Presently, the number of such survivors is not known. As a result, a reserve of 8 million DM has been set aside for these forced and slave labor victims.

However, before payments to victims can begin, the German Parliament must adopt the appropriate legislation to fund the settlement. In addition, a procedure for registration and verification of claims, especially in the West, must be developed and implemented.

It is anticipated that there will be an official worldwide notification and registration process during which forced and slave victims must register their claims. Optimistically, payments can begin late this year or in early 2001.

Myroslaw Smorodsky of Rutherford, N.J., was an attorney for the Ukrainian class of forced and slave labor victims and for the Ukrainian delegation.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, April 2, 2000, No. 14, Vol. LXVIII

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