Austria - Nazi Victims Fund Closes - NYTimes.com An Austrian fund to compensate victims of Nazi persecution is shutting down after paying out $210 million for just a fraction of its recognized claims. A statement from the Reparation Fund for the Victims of National Socialism said Tuesday that it was ending its work after dealing with the last of 20,702 applications since it began in 2001. The statement said the fund recognized claims amounting to about $1.5 billion. Because it was able to pay out only a fraction of that because of limited finances, the fund's chairman, Sir Franklin Berman of Britain, said the compensation could be seen only as a "late gesture of reconciliation."