Nazis' forced labourers to get payments

After nearly a year of delays, the German parliament last night opened the way for compensation payments for more than 1m people forced to toil for the Third Reich.

A spokesman for survivors of the Nazis' forced labour programmes estimated yesterday that 60,000 or so intended beneficiaries had died since last July's deal. Even now, whether some victims get paid remains uncertain, as many cannot provide the necessary proof that they worked for the German war effort.

The deal between the German government, industry and representatives of the victims, committed the German government and companies to provide half each of a DM10bn (£3bn) fund for the survivors.

The fund was designed to head off legal claims in the US threatening crippling damages against companies that used forced and slave labour.

Yesterday's resolution in the Bundestag, the lower house, met a key condition of last year's deal that parliament should make a formal declaration when it was satisfied that the companies were effectively immune from prosecution.

The German chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, called it "a signal to the world that we are aware of the terrible crimes in our past".

Yesterday's vote, passed with only a few rightwing MPs voting against, had been delayed by a New York judge who was reluctant to dismiss claims already before her. The judge was overruled earlier this month.

The deal draws a distinction between forced labourers, mostly from Nazi-occupied eastern Europe, and slave labourers specifically intended to be worked to death. Slave labourers - mainly Jews but also political opponents and gypsies - will get £5,000 and forced labourers £1,500.

Andreas Plake, of the main German association representing survivors, said: "There is no exact figure for the number who have died since the agreement was reached because no one knows precisely how many are still alive. Our best estimate is 200 deaths a day."

The group overseeing the fund said the vote should allow for payments next month in Poland and the Czech Republic. Russians and Ukrainians may have to wait until next year.