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Victims of Nazi Medical Experiments Get More Funds |
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Written by Administrator
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Saturday, 18 March 2006 |
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GENEVA (Reuters) - Some 714 surviving victims of Nazi medical experiments are being paid additional funds, bringing their compensation to 6,693 euros ($8,675) each, an international aid agency said on Friday. But the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said no amount could make up for "atrocious experiments" performed on human guinea pigs by Nazi doctors in concentration camps. The IOM is handling claims submitted by non-Jewish victims to the German Foundation "Remembrance, Responsibility and Future," set up in 2000 by the German government and industry to compensate various categories of victims of the Nazi regime. The foundation's board decided earlier this year to use some interest accrued on its 5.12 billion euro fund to make a final payment to personal injury victims, the IOM said in a statement. Personal injury victims received 4,243 euros each in March 2004, but will be paid an additional 2,450 euros, for a total of 6,693 euros, the Geneva-based body said. "IOM and the German Foundation recognize that no amount of money can possibly compensate these victims for their suffering," said Norbert Wuehler, director of IOM's claims programs. "But we are very pleased that IOM is now able to pay a considerably higher amount than initially calculated to persons who suffered from pseudo-medical experiments or certain other Nazi atrocities," he added. In all, 1,320 claimants who suffered personal injury under the Nazi regime are to receive additional payments, IOM said. They include 714 victims of medical experiments, 527 people who as children were separated from their parents and held in a home for children of slave or forced laborers, and 79 claimants whose children died in such homes, it said. Many victims of medical experiments did not survive the "barbaric and extremely painful procedures," it said. Heirs or legal successors are not eligible to receive the additional payment, although they received the original payment.
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