    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (2000, Book I)]
    [June 12, 2000]
    [Pages 1133-1134]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Statement on the German Negotiations To Compensate Victims of Nazi Slave
    and Forced Labor
    June 12, 2000

        I am very pleased that a major hurdle to agreement on the historic
    German initiative dealing with wrongs arising from World War II has now
    been overcome. I am pleased to announce that there is now agreement on
    the mechanism for providing enduring and all-encompassing legal peace
    for German companies. This is an important day for those victims of
    Nazi-era wrongs who have waited 50 years for justice. It is also an
    important day for Chancellor Schroeder and
    German companies. They have shown remarkable leadership in trying to
    rectify the wrongs committed during the Nazi era.
        I hope the German Parliament, whose leaders have been involved in
    these negotiations, will be able to complete their work on legislation
    expeditiously so that payments to the victims can begin this year.
        German-American relations are based on our common commitment to
    human dignity coming from a shared history of democracy for over

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    50 years. This unique German initiative, reaching out to victims of the
    20th century's most horrible tragedy, will convey dramatically to the
    entire world Germany's commitment to justice and human rights. Our
    countries are entering the new millennium together determined to protect
    the inviolability of human dignity.