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BERLIN — With an agreement in place for a $5.2 billion fund for Nazi-era slave and forced laborers, one chapter is closing in Germany's process of dealing with the past.

But it does not bring all discussion to an end.

"Exactly the opposite," said Konrad Matschke of the Frankfurt office of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, which was among the groups negotiating on behalf of the laborers.

"A confrontation" with what happened during the war "must continue," he said, noting that this would not be "resolved through a financial correction."

Matschke pointed out a little-known fact — that the agreement package includes a component for Holocaust education.

"There will be a so-called Future Fund for youth exchange, research and documentation," Matschke said.

Deidre Berger, director-designate of the Berlin office of the American Jewish Committee, which has played a behind-the-scenes role in these and other reparations talks, agreed that there is more work ahead.

"What the talks have done is open the chapter," she said. "Germans can look at their history and understand what happened and take responsibility without in any way being personally guilty or collectively guilty."

The settlement negotiations brought together representatives of Holocaust survivors, the German, U.S. and Eastern European governments, and about 50 German companies.

Parties to the talks were scheduled to meet in Berlin today, when an official statement is expected regarding the amount of the fund and how much each survivor will receive. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright is expected to attend.

On Wednesday, there were estimates that slave laborers, mostly Jews whom the Nazis expected to be worked to death during the war, will receive $5,100 to $7,800.

Forced laborers, most of whom were non-Jews deported to Nazi Germany from Eastern European nations, will receive an estimated $2,600 to $3,100.

Despite the agreement, there will be "no feeling of victory on the side of the victims. You can never repay people for what they suffered," said Michael Witti, a Munich attorney working for the survivors.

The German offer affects about 250,000 concentration camp survivors — 135,000 of them Jewish — who were enslaved by German companies during the war.

It would also compensate between 475,000 and 1.2 million non-Jewish forced laborers from Eastern Europe who were deported and sent to work in Germany.

In part because the pact must be approved by the German parliament, it is expected that payments won't be made until summer.

Lawyers involved in the talks already predict disputes over how eligibility will be determined.

The question of how to prove eligibility "has not been completely decided. There must be some sort of proof, because otherwise everyone of a certain age could come and register as a former slave laborer," Witti said.

"Jewish slave laborers were registered because they were to be destroyed," he said, adding that because of this documentation they will have less trouble than others in proving their cases.

The long-awaited agreement was reached Tuesday after the German side responded to Monday's steeply reduced demand from the victims' representatives.

Behind the scenes, President Clinton worked with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder to reach the compromise, according to reports on Wednesday.

During the days leading up to the deal, there was a flurry of activity. On Monday, lawyers for survivors reduced their demand to $5.7 billion. Earlier in the talks, the lawyers had demanded $28 billion. Germany and the group of German companies recently offered $4.2 billion to create the fund.

About half of the $5.2 billion will come from the German government, possibly through profits realized from the privatization of public property. An approximately equal amount will come from German firms. U.S. companies whose German subsidiaries used slave labor during the war will also contribute.

So far, 17 German firms have signed on to the industry initiative. Another 60 are considering doing so, according to industry spokesman Wolfgang Gibowski.

General Motors is among the U.S. firms with German subsidiaries that employed slave labor. Opel AG, the German branch of General Motors, said on Monday that it will join the industry fund.

Though the amount of the contribution has not been decided, "we are confessing our responsibility," Opel spokesman Bruno Seifert said.

A Ford spokesman told reporters Monday that the company is one of some 200 companies with German operations that may join the industry fund.