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SLAVE/FORCED
LABOR CLASS ACTIONS
AGAINST GERMAN INDUSTRY
In
the late 1990's, numerous lawsuits were instituted throughout
the US seeking to recover damages sustained by victims of the Nazi
horror of World War II. Among them were litigations on behalf of
Ukrainian survivors of the forcible Nazi deportation of millions of
Ukrainians during World War II to Germany and Austria to work as
forced/slave laborers in various factories, farms and government
enterprises in the Reich.
On
August 11, 1999, a class action litigation was instituted in the
Federal District Court, Eastern District of New York, against German
Industry for their use of slave and forced labor. The lawsuit names
several prominent German companies as defendants claiming they
participated in and benefited from these war crimes. EVGENY GUMINSKY,
et. als., Plaintiffs VS.
Bayerische Motoren Werke AG; et.
als., Defendants.
A
second suit was instituted in February of 2000, in the Federal District
Court, Southern District of New York against Commerzbank of Germany
from profiting from slave/forced labor. Some slave/forced
laborers
were ostensibly paid very meager salaries (which they never received)
but which were paid into “saving accounts” for the forced
laborers. As
the war drew to a close, even these “savings accounts” were looted by
the banks and never accounted for. Nadia Matviivna VYDRYGAN, et.
als., Plaintiffs VS. COMMERZBANK, AG,
Defendants.
Another
litigation (on behalf of not only Ukrainians but all nationalities) was
filed in August of 2000 in the Federal District Court, District of
Columbia, against Austria and Austrian industry for use of forced
and
slave labor on the territory of Austria during world War II.
EUDOKIA
KRILL et. als., Plaintiffs, VS. FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF
AUSTRIA, MAGNA
INTERNATIONAL INC. A companion suit seeks recovery
against Austria
and Geman industry for property losses resulting from asset looting and
aryanization.
On
July 17, 2000, after sometimes difficult and frustrating eighteen month
long negotiations, the representatives of Five Central and East
European countries [CEE] (Belarus, the Czech Republic, Poland, Russia
and Ukraine), Israel, Germany and the United States, and German
Industry, as well as the legal representatives of former victims of
Nazi persecution, finally signed a Settlement Agreement to compensate
these victims for their suffering during World War II. The signing took
place in a formal ceremony at the German Foreign Ministry in Berlin.
The Austrian negotiations began in the spring of 2000, and settlement
documents for the slave/forced labor portion of the Austrian
litigations were signed on October 24, 2000 in Vienna. Myroslaw
Smorodsky, Esq. was one of the attorneys in the all above litigations
and participated in the negotiations of the German and Austrian
Settlements as a plaintiffs’ counsel and as a member of the Ukrainian
Government Delegation.
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