Compensation, In Remembrance Of Things Past (NAPSA)—After more than 50 years, an effort is being made to provide compensation to victimsof one of history’s greatest atrocities. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is oneof the organizations that collect claims and make payments to Nazi victims. The deadline for submitting claims is December31, 2001. Then: In the years leading up to, and throughout World WarII, millions of people across Europe were detained in concentration camps, subjected to medical experiments or deported to Germany to perform forced labour. Other people lost their property. Roughly 55 years after the war, the German Government and German industry jointly established a DEM 10-billion fund to compensate slave and forced labourers and other victims of the National Socialist (Nazi) regime. Seven partner organizations including IOM were designated to help implement the programme. IOM also implements a settlement agreement reached by Holocaust victims and Swiss Banks. In part, the U.S. $1.25 billion Settlement Fund serves to pay compensation to former slave labourers. Now: Under the German Forced Labour Compensation Programme, the IOM handles all claims of non-Jewish victims who reside in the Americas and compensates: Persons who were held in a concentration camp and per- formed slave labour; Persons who were deported to Germany or a German-occupied area and were held in extremely harsh living conditions and performed forced labour for German companies, the Nazi regime or in agriculture; Persons who suffered personal injury (medical experiments, the loss of a child, severe health damage); Victims (and their heirs) who suffered property loss with direct participation of German enterprises. Western European claimants are only eligible if they were detained in concentration camps or labour camps attached to firms. Prisoners of War and Italian Military Internees (IMIs) are excluded from payments unless they were detained in a concentration camp. Under the Holocaust Victim Assets Programme (Swiss Banks) IOM handles the claims from three classes of claimants: Persons who were persecuted because they were or were believed to be Roma, Jehovah’s Wit- ness, homosexual, or physically or mentally handicapped, and who performed slave labour (Slave Labour Class I); Persons who belong to one of the same persecuted groups and were denied entry into Switzerland or were mistreated as refugees during the period 1 January 1933 to 9 May 1945 (Refugee Class); All persons who performed slave labour for Swiss companies (Slave Labour ClassII). Under both programmes, heirs are only entitled to claim if the victim died on or after 16 February 1999. If a victim dies after having filed a claim, the heirs must inform IOM within six monthsafter the date of death. For more information call the IOM Hotline at 1-866-443-5187, check the Internet at www.ion.int or write to IOM, 1752 N Street, N.W., Suite 700, Washington, D.C. 20036. Persons who have already filed a claim with IOM should refrain from calling again.
