Nazi pay-outs begin in Prague

Slave labourers at a Nazi munitions factory

PRAGUE, Czech Republic -- The first payments to thousands of Nazi-era slave labourers have been sent out.

The fund that compensates World War II-era survivors in the Czech Republic sent out its first wave of payments on Tuesday to 10,000 people, while a New York-based group that handled payments specifically to Jewish survivors sent out its first 10,000 payments to people in 25 countries.

Czech Foreign Minister Jan Kavan described the payments by the $4.3 billion German fund as "historic." The payments are to be made in installments.

Victims are eligible to receive up to $6,500 each if they were in a concentration camp intended to work prisoners to death, or up to $2,175 if they were forced to work elsewhere for German companies.

As many as 1.5 million surviving slave and forced labourers -- most in central and eastern Europe -- are believed eligible for compensation.

The foundation running the fund -- which is supported 50-50 by the German government and industry -- said the Jewish Claims Conference and organisations in the Czech Republic and in Poland were the first to receive payments.

Jan Sechter of the Czech-German fund said of the 10,000 people to be paid out in the first wave, 2,434 were serving as slave labourers in Nazi concentration camps, and 7,566 were forced labourers born before June, 1922.

The Czech-German fund has registered about 84,000 applications for compensation, but hundreds of new applications arrive every day, Sechter said.

Dagmar Buresova, head of the fund's board, thanked the victims for their patience, which she said "helped to create a political climate that allowed cooperation with the German side."

The claims and pay outs are handled by seven partner organisations: five based around Eastern Europe for victims living in those countries; the Jewish Claims Conference, which handles Jewish claims; and the Geneva-based International Organization for Migration, responsible for claims from the rest of the world.

Czech slave labourers are to receive a total of $186 million.

Sechter said the number of applications would likely reach 100,000 if the deadline for applications, now set at August 11, is extended.