German-Armenian Lawyer Seeks Compensation for Armenia’s WW II Forced Laborers

EurasiaNet: How did you begin the task of identifying your clients in Armenia?
Taschjian: When I came to Armenia I met with the president of a local veterans' organization, and asked him if their group was informed of the law that had been passed in Germany. He said yes. I asked if they would be organizing appeals or claims so that people could get some compensation. He said no. I could not understand why, so he explained that their members considered themselves part of a war veterans' organization, and these prisoners of war (POWs) were considered to be traitors because they had worked for the enemy. Since this veterans' committee would not be organizing appeals for the case, I decided to do so myself.

I did not utilize television or media outlets to distribute information until February 2001, by when I already had acquired 170 clients. At the same time, there was one member of parliament who was encouraging me to go to the Armenian media because he felt that there were many more POWs.