German negotiator pleads for swift agreement on slave labor compensation

It is necessary from both a moral and financial point of view that all sides moved towards a deal on setting up a fund at a meeting scheduled to start in Bonn on Aug. 24, said Otto Graf Lambsdorff. The former German Economy Minister urged his country's industries to be generous in their compensation offer to slave labor victims, but also called on victims' lawyers not to make "excessive" demands for compensation. Some of Germany's largest firms are involved in the talks including Deutsche Bank and carmaker Volkswagen. The companies are seeking immunity from class-action lawsuits in return for setting up the fund. Lambsdoff said last month that the historically symbolic Sept. 1 date for launching the fund, the sixtieth anniversary of the outbreak of World War II, would be missed. (Reuters)