About 85 per cent of them survived the war.There is a second category of "slave labourers", who lived - if that is the word - in concentration camps and workedin factories built in the vicinity. as a fair settlement."Chancellor Gerhard Schroder is due to solicit contributions from the 16 federal Lander tomorrow, and Madeleine Albright, the US Secretary of State, is expected to fly to Berlin on Friday to sign the agreement.About 12 million Jews and non-Germans were press-ganged to serve the Nazi war effort. They worked mainly in the factories belonging to private companies and never received payment or compensation. Among companies that did volunteer are global household names, such as Volkswagen and DaimlerChrysler. "The deal is done," said Michael Witti, a Frankfurt lawyer representing victims, after weeks of protracted negotiations "Still the number is low, but I have and will accept this... Although the government in Berlin refused to speculate on the size of the special fund, a lawyer representing victims' groups said it would be DM10bn (pounds 3.2bn).

The German taxpayer will bear the lion's share of the burden, as only a tiny minority of the companies that exploited the labour of Jews and enslaved citizens of the occupied countries agreed to contribute. Some 20,000 Syrians share the occupied land with 17,000 Israeli settlers; returning the area to Damascus's fold would add still more decibels to the Syrian applause.Leading article,Review, page 3. MORE THAN half a century after the Second World War ended, Germany agreed last night to compensate survivors forced by the Nazis to work in German factories. What is less obvious is why now? President Hafez al-Assad may be acting to counter pressure from Mr Barak and Mr Clinton to return to the table. The Syrian leader knows from experience that Syria will be blamed by the West as the spoiler if it fails to do so.But it also may be that, at 69, Mr Assad's thoughts are turning to his place in history. He was defence minister when the Golan was lost to Israel in 1967, displacing tens of thousands of Syrians.Securing the return of the 744 square miles of strategically valuable and symbolically priceless land would finally remove this blot from his record. The original plan to reconvene the talks in the Middle East appears to have been shelved.

Mr Clinton has made no secret of his hope for an agreement before he leaves office, which would allow him to claim completion of the process begun by Jimmy Carter, the Democratic president before him.Israel's Prime Minister, Ehud Barak, will want assurances that Syria will use its influence to try to end Hizbollah attacks on Israeli forces occupying south Lebanon and agreements on water, economic relations, early- warning systems, embassies and more.Syria above all wants the return of the Golan Heights and it wants all of it. They are expected to be held behind closed doors, at President Bill Clinton's insistence.If this week produces a framework for agreement, lower-level talks will continue, probably still in the United States. Syria has made their return a precondition of any further agreement. Yesterday the timetable and structure of the talks appeared not to have been decided. "There have been negotiations in the past that have not succeeded over the same issues.