Vienna
Austria has just finished paying compensation to people who were used as slave laborers during World War II, when the country was occupied by Nazi Germany. The $350 million Austrian Reconciliation Fund made the last of its payments to 132,000 former forced laborers or their families this week. A German fund is compensating approximately 800,000 other people who were compelled to work in Austria. Burt Neuborne, a member of the board of trustees that administers the German fund, said the German mania for record-keeping in all things, even slavery, made it fairly easy to track down the former laborers. “In a sense it’s a tribute to Teutonic efficiency,” he said. “I say that with some irony.”
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Violent videos of Charlie Kirk’s death are renewing debate over online censorshipTalking Points Social media ‘promises unfiltered access, but without guarantees of truth and without protection from harm’
-
What led to Poland invoking NATO’s Article 4 and where could it lead?TODAY'S BIG QUESTION After a Russian drone blitz, Warsaw’s rare move to invoke the important NATO statute has potentially moved Europe closer to continent-wide warfare
-
Africa could become the next frontier for space programsThe Explainer China and the US are both working on space applications for Africa
