A $5.2 billion compensation deal struck by Germany with representatives of victims of forced labor during World War II, to be shared by the government and industry, could serve as a model for Japan in dealing with redress claims by Asian wartime laborers, according to two key negotiators.
James Bindenagel, U.S. State Department envoy for Holocaust issues, and Otto Graf Lambsdorff, former German minister of economics, presented the recent German compensation package to the Japan National Press Club earlier this week. The two men were the main negotiators in helping reach the settlement.
"These payments provide valuable assistance to the survivors, all of whom are old and many of whom are poor," Bindenagel said.