Berlin - A German lawyer warned yesterday that a deal paving the way for a DM10 billion fund to compensate Naziera slaves and forced-labour workers could still leave German firms open to lawsuits.
US and German negotiators cleared a major obstacle to setting up the £4 billion fund after 10 hours of talks in Washington on Monday, providing assurances that US courts would dismiss claims from people the Nazis forced to work during the second World War.
But Mr Michael Witti, part of a legal team representing Nazi-era slaves, commented that German companies' desire to restrict the settlement to forced labourers left them open to fresh claims for the looting of assets by firms during the Nazis' "Aryanisation" of the German economy.