Former Nazi slave labourers forced to work for German industry during the war are said to be furious about plans to cut their agreed sum of compensation.

The German Government, which after lengthy negotiations agreed to pay claimants a settlement of �3bn last December, now says it has to reduce the amount.

German industry is said to be struggling to raise the money pledged to one million former slave labourers, which was to be more than doubled by a contribution from the government.

Now representatives of British claimants are returning from talks in Berlin saying they have been betrayed.

Their lawyer Martin Day, who gave evidence before a German parliamentary committee, said the money allocated for around 1000 British slave workers had been halved.

He accused the Germans of talking publicly about fairness while "stitching up" the British behind the scenes.

The president of the Federation of Poles in Great Britain said Germany was "trying to humiliate" his members.

Moral responsibility

Although Germany has compensated the victims of war crimes, it has never provided for the estimated 12 million people put to work by Adolf Hitler's regime.

In a bid to encourage other German contributors, fund organisers published a list of 2,000 supporting companies, including German industrial giants Siemens, Volkswagen and Daimler Chrysler which benefited from slave and forced labourers during World War II.

Double-page newspaper adverts appealed to firms not on the list to acknowledge their moral responsibility and join the fund.

The contributors are not necessarily firms who employed slave labour or were active in Germany at the time of the Nazi regime.

The original deal for compensation was brokered by the German and American governments late last year.