Slave labourers get compensation

Polish victims of Nazism are to receive compensation

By the BBC's Ray Furlong in Prague

The first compensation payments are on Thursday to be made in Poland to people who worked as slave labourers in Germany during the Second World War.

About 10,000 of the most elderly victims will be eligible for payments of several thousand deutschmarks each.

But the payments have been overshadowed by an ongoing controversy.

The Polish foundation handling the money has accused Germany of using an exchange rate which short-changes the victims of Nazism.

The payments don't have just a material character, their value is most of all moral

Jerzy Buzek
Polish Prime Minister

Across the country the first of the 10,000 surviving former slave labourers appeared at offices of the state-owned PKO BP bank to receive the payments.

The money is for time spent working in Nazi factories and concentration camps during the Second World War and the Polish authorities estimate that up to half-a-million survivors may be eligible for payments - more than in any other country.

They are due to receive more than two billion marks of the total 10 billion marks, paid for in equal parts by German industry and the state.

To mark the occasion, the Polish Prime Minister, Jerzy Busek, met representatives of survivors on Wednesday and suggested that the German Chancellor, Gerhard Schroeder, should receive one of Poland's highest honours for his work to set up the compensation funds.

Bitter dispute

But what should be a moment of reconciliation has been overshadowed by a bitter dispute over exchange rates.

The international agreement sets compensation figures in deutschmarks but survivors are paid in their local currencies.

The Polish foundation which handles the money says that the Germans have chosen a rate which short-changes the victims by about 60 million deutschmarks.

A spokesman for the Poles said one solution would be for the money to be transferred to the Polish foundation in deutschmarks but, after initial talks between the two sides, no progress has been made on reaching agreement.

Further talks are to be held next month.