An American GI who brought a $200,000 suit against IG-Farben for back wages and damages resulting from his having worked as a slave laborer in an IG-Farben factory attached to the Oswiecim concentration camp has reached an out-of-court settlement, it was learned here today. The terms of the settlement were kept secret.
The GI, Rudolph Waxman of Hollywood, brought suit against the giant German chemical trust while he was attached to an American Army unit in Germany. He brought his suit in an American court which, over the objections of a high-priced battery of IG-Farben lawyers, ruled that it had jurisdiction over the case because Pfc. Waxman was a member of the occupation forces.
Since the beginning of this year, however, American courts in Germany have been curtailing their jurisdiction over civil cases. For this and other reason, Mr. Waxman’s attorneys decided to make an out-of-court settlement.
When a youth, Waxman, a member of a Jewish family in Germany, was sent to the concentration camp and assigned to the IG-Farben plant at Monowitz, a satellite camp of Oswiecim. There he suffered physical injuries and mental suffering. He was liberated by the Allies and after the war went to the U. S. His suit asked $18,000 in back wages and the remainder in damages and legal fees.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
