PAYING FOR THE PAST is an inside view of the world's biggest class action. In World War II concentration camp inmates and prisoners from the occupied territories were selected by the Nazis and forced to work in appalling conditions for some of Germany's most wealthy and prestigious companies. Many died. US government and German government now want the past put right, while lawyers and Jewish organisations want the survivors compensated and their suffering acknowledged. But the past that caused the legally complex and highly political case is too painful for the claimants to ever achieve emotional closure.