I think it is a final act in which we underline that we feel responsible for what has been done in our history

Manfred Gentz, industry fund chairman

The companies made their announcement after a court in the United States dismissed one of the last outstanding lawsuits against them.

The industries have demanded guarantees against existing and future lawsuits before they pay their contribution. Industries and the German Government have each contributed half of the DM10bn ($4.5bn) raised.

Chancellor Schroeder: delighted with the arrangement

German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder moved quickly to endorse the move, and said he believed parliament could quickly give its approval.

Mr Schroeder said he was relieved and satisfied that it would soon be possible to begin payments.

Last week, the German Government said the payments could start by July if the companies received the guarantees they have been asking for.

Dark chapter closing

The victims, who are all elderly, stand to receive up to $7,000 each.

They include about 200,000 former Jewish concentration camp inmates in addition to other people mostly drafted in from Nazi-occupied eastern Europe.

Manfred Gentz hopes the move will bring closure

The final legal obstacle blocking the compensation pay-outs was removed on Monday when a US judge, Shirley Kram, dismissed a set of claims brought former victims.

But her reluctance to throw out an earlier lawsuit was blamed by the chairman of the German industry fund, Manfred Gentz, for delaying payments by several months.

Last week, Judge Kram was overruled by a US Appeals Court. Mr Gentz said German companies were now confident the few outstanding Holocaust related cases in the US would be quickly dismissed.

He added that he believed the payments to slave labourers would finally draw a legal and moral line under the darkest period in German industrial history.