Peres to Head VW’s Compensation Fund

Former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres was named Friday to head a council overseeing Volkswagen’s $12-million fund to compensate former slave laborers used by the car maker during the Nazi era.

The group, which met in Berlin, also includes former Chancellor Franz Vranitzky of Austria and former German President Richard von Weizsaecker, a statement from Volkswagen said.

The three discussed guidelines for administration of the fund as well as the distribution of payments, the statement said.

The statement made no mention of when payments would start or how much they would be. When announcing the fund in September, Volkswagen said it hoped to begin distribution this year.

Volkswagen estimates that 17,000 forced laborers worked in its factories from 1941 until the end of the war, although others charge that the number was much higher.

Facing lawsuits in the United States and threats of more at home, Volkswagen became the first major German firm to say it would establish a fund to give “humanitarian aid” directly to survivors.