AJC Applauds Creation of German Compensation Fund

American Jewish Committee
Monday, 17 July 2000

The American Jewish Committee today applauded the establishment of a German government and industry fund to compensate Nazi-era slave and forced laborers.

"We commend Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder for launching this initiative," said David A. Harris, executive director of the American Jewish Committee. "The fund is a significant achievement that offers the former labors who are still alive a small modicum of compensation while acknowledging the gross abuse they experienced at the hands of German industry serving the Nazi war machine."

Mr. Harris called on the foundation administering the $5 billion fund "to move quickly to disseminate monies to survivors, and culpable German firms not yet participating in the compensation fund should join now."

Last December AJC named more than 250 German companies that had used slave and forced labor during the Nazi era. Publication of the list led a week later to preliminary agreement on creating the compensation fund, which was approved by the German Parliament (Bundestag) earlier this month. A second list issued in January brought the total firms identified by the American Jewish Committee to over 400.

More than 200 companies are still on the AJC list (www.ajc.org) because they have yet to join the compensation fund.

"It is shameful that the majority of those companies named six months ago have yet to join the fund," said Deidre Berger, director of AJC's Berlin Office.

The AJC list was singled out during the Bundestag debate on the compensation fund.

"I wish to thank Deidre Berger and her colleagues from the American Jewish Committee, who created public interest and shed necessary light on this dark chapter through their courageous act publicizing in the Internet the names of companies that employed slave laborers and had not yet joined the compensation fund," said Dietmar Niethan of the SPD.

The AJC today also reiterated its appeal for German companies to open their archives to researchers and Holocaust survivors as a matter of historical record.

Ms. Berger also reported that the German Interior Ministry assured AJC that staff at the International Tracing Service of the International Red Cross in Arolsen would be substantially increased to handle the expected increase in queries from survivors.

For more information, or to contact American Jewish Committee, see their website at: www.ajc.org