Austrian parliament votes to pay compensation to Nazi slave labor victims

The Austrian parliament voted unanimously on Friday to pay compensation to Nazi slave laborers, who were forced to work on Austrian territory during the World War II. The parliament also established the Reconciliation Fund, which is to collect ATS 6 billion from the Austrian private sector and the government. Historians believe there are currently 150,000 people who qualify to receive money from the Fund. People forced to work in Austrian concentration camps can claim ATS 105,000, in industry ATS 35,000 and on farms ATS 20,000. Twenty-one thousand Poles will be entitled to receive the money. However, the new law will come into force only after the Austrian government receives an assurance from the U.S. Senate, that the American courts have stopped legal proceedings linked to forced labor in Austria. (Rzeczpospolita, July 8-9, page A3) P.S.