The following article left me feeling quite disgusted. I did not know that the immeasurable human suffering the these people endured could be wieghed in such a miserable amount of money. Of course Madeline Albright played here part and stated this was a great step forward. Well I have a question for the leaders that negotiated the settlements to be pawned off to these victims. What about all the billions of dollar in Nazi loot and stolen wealth from Jewish victims that still lies in the heart of Swiss Banks? How about these 'Great' world leaders get together and put international pressure of Switzerland to hand this money and the billions in interest over to the remaining victims? The following is nothing but a farce and a very cheap buy off!

Regards,Straykat

Nazi Labor Funds Agreement Reached

The Associated Press

Mar 23 2000 1:22PM ET

BERLIN (AP) - Clearing the last major obstacle to compensating aging victims of Nazi-era forced and slave labor, negotiators agreed Thursday on how to divide a $5 billion German fund with hopes of starting payments by year's end.

Under the deal, about 240,000 slave laborers - those who were put to work in concentration camps and had been expected to die doing their jobs - would receive up to $7,500 each. More than 1 million forced laborers, who worked in factories outside camps, would get up to $2,500 each.

``We have taken a huge step forward today,'' said Deputy Treasury Secretary Stuart Eizenstat, the U.S. government envoy to the talks. ``This brings this process a substantial step closer to completion.'' All sides agreed in December on the size of the fund, to be split equally by German government and industry. But negotiators had been wrangling over how to divide the money among various groups.

They have been working under pressure to start making payments as soon as possible because many victims are in their 70s. Noah Flug, 75, an Auschwitz survivor who heads an umbrella organization of Holocaust survivor groups in Israel and was one of the negotiators, said two-thirds of the people who could have been eligible for money already have died. ``It is better late than never,'' he said of the agreement Thursday, echoing a common refrain of the victims'groups. ``We've worked very hard to get thatcompensation fund up and going and to be able to begin thedistribution,'' U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said in Geneva of the agreement.

Germany has paid about $60 billion under other compensation programs for Nazi-era wrongs since World War II. But many people eligible for the labor compensation are non-Jews from eastern Europe who were prevented from receiving the earlier money because they were behind the Iron Curtain.

Claims also were stymied for decades by industry's insistence that the workers were forced on them by the Nazi regime, while the government maintained it was not responsible because the laborers toiled for private companies.

The Nazis used slave laborers in concentration camps as another means of killing, expecting the victims to die because of the extreme work conditions. Forced laborers were brought to Germany from eastern Europe to keep German industry running during the war and replace German workers sent to the front lines.

The agreement would allocate just over $4 billion to compensate slave and forced labor victims and $500 million to cover claims for property, bank accounts and insurance policies stolen by the Nazis as well as ``humanitarian cases.''

About $350 million will be used for a foundation to sponsor research and educational projects on Nazi labor, with the remainder going for administrative costs and legal fees. German industry proposed a compensation fund last year, under pressure of U.S. class-action lawsuits. As part of the deal, the U.S. government has promised to ask courts to refer lawsuits to the foundation for settlement.

Eizenstat said to guarantee U.S. support, the German parliament must enact legislation that conforms with the principles agreed to in the talks. Leaders of the talks refused to elaborate on the details of possible problems, which are expected to be discussed in smaller working groups. Another round of full negotiations hasn't been scheduled.

On Wednesday, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Cabinet approved a bill to set up the fund; plans call for the measure to be enacted by July. After the legislation is finalized, victims will have eight months toapply for compensation, Eizenstat said

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On the Net: the foundation Web site: http://www.stiftungsinitiative.de/eindex.html