Slave Labor Fund

* The announcement by German corporations proposing to compensate World War II slave laborers is a travesty (June 11). By requiring a minimum six-month period of forced labor to qualify for benefits, these captains of German industry demonstrate the same callousness and lack of humanity as their perfidious Nazi forebears. How many prisoners were able to survive the incredible brutality and starvation for six months, six weeks, or even six days?

It is disingenuous, to say the least, for these self-protecting industrialists to claim they are engaging in a charitable enterprise when it is clear that their principal concern is to immunize themselves from further lawsuits while getting away with making as little restitution as possible. Perhaps the only solution is to recreate the barbaric conditions of forced labor and subject these shameless businessmen to them. Let them see if they can survive six minutes.

ALAN RUSKIN

Los Angeles