On June 17 of last year, representatives of eight states, Jewish organizations, and German industrialists, as well as lawyers for the victims, signed a joint statement of compromise. No one thought that 8 months later everything would have to start from scratch. But an 80-year-old lady from an American court, Shirley Kram, it turns out, did not withdraw the class-action lawsuit of former forced laborers who worked at German enterprises during the war against German concerns. The industrialists, who had been promised legal guarantees, reversed course, and the famous cart fell back into its old rut.
It must be said that class-action lawsuits are considered a feature of American law. People unite in groups to defend common interests. Based on such lawsuits, Swiss banks at one time paid Holocaust victims 2.1 billion marks in compensation. In March 1998, lawyer Weiss filed the first class-action lawsuit against the German enterprises of Ford. Then a lawsuit was filed against the BMW concern, now Deutsche Bank and Dresdner Bank are next in line. But Germany refused to play such games and created a joint fund. During negotiations, agreement seemed to have been reached on the method, amounts, and timing of benefit payments. Now there is another hitch.
The federal authorities of Germany tried to put pressure on the industrialists, at least on those firms that had already contributed their share. From Berlin, letters were sent out in a fan-like manner with reminders and requests. It was recommended to additionally increase the contribution amounts by at least one and a half percent to cover the deficit. The campaign did not bring success. 'As long as you don't give guarantees, we won't budge,' the concerns said.
Now a counter-step has been taken by the German enterprises. They proposed that the government pay benefits to the victims without waiting for the fund to reach the set figure of 10 billion. The industrialists recommend doing this for now using the money of German taxpayers, that is, from the funds allocated by the government (out of the 5 billion that have been allocated long ago). The concerns explain their wait-and-see position by the fact that they still have not received legal guarantees from organizations representing the interests of Nazi victims. The spokesman for the industrialists in the joint fund, Manfred Gentz, explained this plainly in a letter to the representative of the federal government in the same fund, Count Lambsdorff. The puzzled count turned to the chancellor. The victims of Nazism also await an authoritative word from the chancellor and the president of Germany.
No end to the protracted conflict is in sight.
FROM THE EDITORIAL BOARD: As our newspaper has repeatedly reported, people recognized as victims of Nazism must submit applications for compensation for forced labor to the fund 'Memory, Responsibility, Future' by April 11, 2001.
We remind you that the following are entitled to compensation: former prisoners of concentration camps and ghettos (15,000 German marks each), forced laborers in industry and the public sector (4,300 marks each), workers in agriculture, communal and domestic services, as well as children under 12 (1,500 German marks each). It was previously assumed that compensation payments would be made in two stages (in the first tranche, prisoners of concentration camps and ghettos would receive 50% of the specified amount, and other categories 30% each).
Application forms can be obtained from the regional offices of the fund, as well as from social security agencies that cooperate with the fund. All necessary information can also be obtained there. The fund's hotline number: (044) 462-50-11.