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Nazi slave workers
to be paid $369m
WARSAW: Germany
and Poland have agreed
to a plan under which
Germany will pay 500
million marks (SA369.12
million) to Poles ex
ploited by the nazis as
slave labourers during
World War II.
"Through this gesture
towards those most harm
ed by the nazi persecu
tion, the [two govern
ments] have a common
intention to close one of
the grimmest chapters of
Polish-German rela
tions," the German am
bassador, Guenter
Knackstedt, said.
But some of the victims
condemned the deal,
clinched shortly before
the German and Polish
parliaments were due to
ratify a bilateral friend
ship treaty.
"It is humiliating; I
think it is disgusting,"
said Jerzy Afanasjew, a
Pole who did slave labour
in Auschwitz concentra
tion camp as a 12-year
old.
Under the agreement
the two countries will set
up a joint foundation
which will hand out com
pensation payments.
— Reuter
The reports in the World News pages are contributed
mainly by Australian Associated Press (AAP), Associated
Press (AP), Agence France-Presse (AFP), the Press Associa
tion (PA), Reuter, New Zealand Press Association
(NZPA), The Guardian. The Independent and Knight-Rid
der Tribune News (KRTN).
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