DATE=9/25/03

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=I-O-M / NAZI SLAVE LABOR (L-ONLY)

NUMBER=2-307891

BYLINE=LISA SCHLEIN

DATELINE=GENEVA

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: The International Organization for Migration, or I-O-M, says it has resolved more than 75 percent of the hundreds-of-thousands of claims it has received from victims of Nazi forced labor. Lisa Schlein reports from I-O-M headquarters in Geneva.

TEXT: Of the nearly 330-thousand claims it has received, I-O-M says it has approved payment for 63-thousand victims of Nazi slave or forced labor. The I-O-M says it rejected 187-thousand claims because they did not meet the necessary criteria, as specified under the German Foundation Act.

I-O-M Spokeswoman Marie-Agnes Heine says it is urgent that payment be made to the victims, as soon as possible. She says they are all very old. Most of those living in Eastern European countries are poor and need money to pay for basic household needs, as well as for medical expenses.

/// HEINE ACT ///

The German Foundation Act was meant mainly to compensate Eastern European forced laborers, because they had never had the chance to receive any compensation or any recognition for what they had to go through under the Nazi regime - the deportation and the forced labor. And therefore, it's always assumed, and it was so by law under the Nazis, that they were treated in a particular harsh ways. They were treated very badly - Eastern Europeans

/// END ACT ///

Ms. Heine says Western Europeans, in general, were not treated as harshly by the Nazis.

The I-O-M spokeswoman says she has met and spoken to numerous victims in many countries. And, she says, she has seen many patterns of persecution and suffering.

/// HEINE 2nd ACT ///

What is common to all those people is that they really are very grateful that this topic has been taken up after so many years, and that they can talk about it. The money is not the real important thing to them. What is important to them is that, finally, it is recognized that they went through the suffering, and that a lot of injustice was done to them, and that at least there was an effort or a gesture to make up for this.

/// END ACT ///

The German government and German industry have each contributed 50 percent of the 300-million-dollar fund, administered by the so-called German Foundation. The I-O-M has been chosen to process the claims and make payments to the victims.

Individual payments range from about 11-hundred-50 dollars to nearly 89-hundred dollars. Most of the claims have been submitted by victims from Poland, the Czech Republic, Israel, Germany and the United States.

The I-O-M says it aims to complete all payments by the end of 2004. (SIGNED)

NEB/LS/ALW/RH/TW