Germany to Compensate Nazi Slave Laborers web resources

[Doug Millison]

>26. Germany to Compensate Nazi Slave Laborers
>1. "Last Chapter: Berlin to Pay Slave Workers Held by Nazis" -- _New York
>Times_ (free registration required)
>http://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/31/world/31GERM.html
>2. "Germany OKs Funds for Nazi Slave Laborers" -- _Los Angeles Times_
>http://www.latimes.com/print/20010531/t000045513.html
>3. "Nazi slave fund passes final hurdle" -- BBC
>http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid_1360000/1360426.stm
>4. "The battle for my stolen past" -- _The London Times_
>http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,7-125710,00.html
>5. The Profits of Plunder -- ABCNews.com special report
>http://abcnews.go.com/sections/world/neutrals/neutrals_index.html
>6. Nazi Gold -- Frontline
>http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/nazis/
>7. Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany
>http://www.claimscon.org/
>8. In re Holocaust Victim Assets Litigation -- _New York Law Journal_
>http://www6.law.com/ny/links/swissbanks.html
>9. Lost Art Internet Database
>http://www.lostart.de/index.php3?lang=english
>
>On Wednesday May 30, 2001, German lawmakers voted nearly unanimously to
>remove the final legal obstacle to free a $4.5 billion fund to begin to
>compensate over 1.5 million survivors of Nazi slave labor camps. Germany
has
>already paid over $60 billion in restitution to victims of the Nazis, but
>this is the first time that slave labor has been specifically included.
>German companies have long admitted they used slave labor during the Nazi
>regime but insist they did so only because they'd been pressured by the
>Nazis. However, 6,300 German companies have already pledged contributions
to
>the industry fund drive, which was started three years ago to stave off
>lawsuits from American firms against some of Germany's biggest
manufacturers
>including Volkswagen, BMW, and Dailmer-Benz for their participation in
slave
>labor in the earlier half of the 20th century. The plan for compensation
>calls for two categories of slave labor: $6,600 will be given to those
>forced to work under life-threatening conditions including concentration
>camps, and $2,200 will be given to the victims who were forced to work
under
>"less onerous conditions." While these payment are seen as a merely
symbolic
>gesture, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder explained that the
compensation
>"sends a signal that Germany is fully conscious of the terrible crimes of
>its past, and will remain so."
>
>The _New York Times_ (1) and the _Los Angeles Times_ (2) offer news
articles
>on the recent events leading up to Wednesday's decision and the reaction of
>the German government. A news brief from the BBC (3) provides the European
>perspective on the payment of Nazi slave laborers. "The battle for my
stolen
>past," from _The London Times_ (4), tells the related story of Barbara
>Principe, a 68-year old great-grandmother claiming that the Nazi, and then
>the post-war German government stole the fortune of her family's successful
>department store. ABCnews.com's special report The Profits of Plunder (5)
is
>a series of articles on the ways in which Germany committed "the greatest
>robbery in history," and Frontline's Nazi Gold (6) offers the complete
>transcripts of the television documentary on the wealth stolen from victims
>of the Holocaust, as well as providing related documents, maps, and
>discussions. The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (7)
>offers news and information on current projects for Holocaust survivors and
>their families. _New York Law Journal_'s memorandum from the US District
>Court Eastern District of NY (8) explains the $1.25 billion settlement of
>the Holocaust Victim Assets Litigation against two large Swiss banks.
>Finally, the Lost Art Internet Database (9) was created to register
>"cultural assets that were relocated, transported and, especially with
>regard to Jewish citizens, confiscated as a result of their persecution
>during World War II and the Nazi-period." [EM]
>
>

>
>From The Scout Report for Business & Economics, Copyright Internet Scout
>Project 1994-2001.  http://scout.cs.wisc.edu/