Former slave laborers can expect to begin receiving compensation soon (06/10/01)

Former slave laborers can expect to begin receiving compensation soon

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - Up to 1 million former slave laborers of Nazi Germany should begin receiving compensation from the German government as soon as next month after the country's Parliament approved the disbursement of $4.6 billion in awards on May 30.

The legislature's approval comes several weeks after a U.S. court dismissed lawsuits that had held up the completion of the process that will grant the "ostarbeiters" - the majority of whom who live in Eastern and Central Europe - an average of $6,700 each.

Michael Yansen, chairman of the German Foundation for Remembrance, Responsibility and the Future, said in Kyiv on May 23 that the U.S. court action was the last legal blockade to Bundestag approval of the money for disbursement. He said he expected the first payments could be sent as early as July 2.

Some 480,000 Ukrainians have applied for compensation for their forced labor to support the Nazi German wartime production. It is estimated that about 610,000 of the 2 million Ukrainians who were forced to leave their homes to work in German concentration camps and ghettos or in factories and on farms during World War II are still alive.

Ihor Lushnykov, chairman of the Ukrainian National Fund on Mutual Understanding and Reconciliation said Ukrainian victims have until August 11 to file claims. After that date they will lose their right to compensation.

Mr. Lushnykov said that, initially, an individual merely needs to send a simple letter to his organization with the name and address of the victim along with the time and place of his forced labor in Germany. Before victims can qualify for compensation they must submit additional information documenting their status.

Those who do not have the required documents should turn to Ukraine's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which has extensive lists of those who returned to Ukraine after the war; to the International Red Cross; or to the local German cities and villages where the slave laborers worked, some of which have retained lists of wartime workers.

Mr. Yansen said that obtaining documented proof would be the biggest problem facing the victims. He said that officials in Berlin must approve each case before ordering the disbursement of the funds to an individual.

Currently German officials are determining which regional and local banks to utilize in Ukraine for the cash transfers. The National Bank of Ukraine will retain responsibility over the money.

Each individual will receive money in two tranches - an issue that has been the point of most controversy between the Ukrainian and German organizations. Ukraine is pushing for a large initial outlay of 65 percent, simply because the ostarbeiters are well advanced in their years and quickly dying off. German officials would like to limit the first payout to between 35 and 60 percent.

Mr. Yansen also said that while the money will be disbursed in Deutschmarks at first, after the introduction of the euro in January 2002 payments will be made only in the all-European currency.

Ukrainian ostarbeiters will share in a pool of $862 million, a figure that was agreed upon on March 28, 2000, after completion of extensive negotiations lasting nearly a year among representatives of the countries whose citizens were affected. Only Poland and the Jewish Claims Conference have been allotted larger sums of $906 million each.

According to Myroslaw Smorodsky, an attorney who has been involved with the forced/slave labor issue, former ostarbeiters who live in the United States and Canada (and other countries beyond Ukraine) should contact the International Organization for Migration. The IOM's Regional Office for North America and the Caribbean, based in Washington, may be contacted at: (202) 862-1826; e-mail, [email protected]. Further information is available on the website at www.iom.int.

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