Germany: 25 years since Nazi forced labor compensation began
Key takeaways
- A German fund set up to compensate the millions forced to work for the Nazi regime is marking 25 years since the first payments were made.
- But some have argued 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 set up to compensate the millions forced to work for the Nazi regime is marking 25 years since the first payments were made. But for many victims, it was much too late.
https://p.dw.com/p/5FVVj Russian civilians were used as forced labor in Germany by the Nazis during World War IIImage: Everett Collection/IMAGOAdvertisement Germany's Remembrance, Responsibility and Future (EVZ) Foundation is this month marking 25 years since it first paid compensation to the last survivors forced to work under the Nazi regime.
But some have argued 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.