Germany: 25 years of compensating Nazi-era forced laborers
Key takeaways
- A German fund established to compensate the millions forced to work for the Nazi regime has marked 25 years since the first payments were made.
- But some argue that those payments should have begun much sooner after the end of World War II in 1945, and should have been much larger.
- Some 26 million people are believed to have been forced to work for the Nazi regime between 1933 and 1945, around half of them in occupied Europe outside Germany's borders during World War II.
Why this matters: an international story with cross-border implications worth tracking.
A German fund established to compensate the millions forced to work for the Nazi regime has marked 25 years since the first payments were made. But for many it was much too late.
https://p.dw.com/p/5FVVj Russian civilians used as forced labor in Germany by the Nazis during World War IIImage: Everett Collection/IMAGOAdvertisement Germany's Foundation Remembrance, Responsibility and Future (EVZ) is this month marking 25 years since it first paid compensation to the last survivors forced to work under the Nazi regime.
But some argue that those payments should have begun much sooner after the end of World War II in 1945, and should have been much larger. According to the EVZ, €4.4 billion ($5.1 billion) were paid to 1.66 million former forced laborers and their legal successors in around 100 countries between 2001 and 2007, when the final payments were made.