Jewish groups blast proposal to compensate slave laborers

WASHINGTON, June 10 (JTA) — Jewish groups and lawyers seeking compensation from German companies for World War II slave laborers have rejected a German proposal to settle all claims for $1.7 billion. German industrial companies accused of profiting from the use of slave labor unilaterally announced the plan on Thursday, leaving Jewish negotiators utterly mystified. The two sides have been participating in talks under the auspices of the U.S. State Department and the German government and had agreed last month to set up two working groups to set rules for payment eligibility and to deal with ways to assure legal closure to the German companies. But the German firms, led by electronics giant Siemens, insurer Allianz and chemical and metals trading group Degussa-Huels, announced a plan that would only compensate slave laborers who had been held in concentration camps for more than six months. It also seeks to limit payments to needy Holocaust survivors and exclude wealthier ones. It also set payment amounts based on where people live and according to each country’s average pension. In addition, it would exclude those who have already received compensation from Germany through other programs. The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, which is negotiating on behalf of the Jewish community, and several lawyers for Holocaust victims wasted no time in blasting the proposal. “This is an attempt to shove something down the victims’ throats,” Mel Weiss, a New York attorney, told a news conference here on Thursday. The Claims Conference said it objected to the “notion that slave laborers should be placed on an inverted hierarchy. Survival was a miracle and this fund would penalize those who managed to escape the Nazis’ murderous methods.” Slave labor was part of the Nazis’ extermination plan; on average, the Nazis calculated the slaves died in three months. Washington lawyer Michael Hausfeld said it was clear from the proposal that the German companies viewed the compensation as charity, rather than a moral and legal obligation. “Justice cannot be confused with charity,” he said. “There will be no legal closure for charity.” Hausfeld said he was particularly troubled by the spirit in which the proposal was put forward, which he said showed a lack of comprehension of the moral issues involved. He cited a remark earlier this week by German historian Lutz Niethammer, with whom the German government has been consulting, saying that in many cases “Jewish survivors must be grateful that their lives were saved by having been slave laborers.” Negotiations are scheduled to continue on June 22 in Bonn, but it is unclear who will be sitting at the table at this point. The lawyers, for their part, said they would only return to the talks once the German companies declare that the proposal is simply an opening position and remains subject to negotiation.