BRITS who helped the Nazis during the Second World War are receiving huge pension payouts from the German government, it's been claimed.

A group of furious Belgian MPs allege British citizens are among those reported to be receiving up to £1,100 per month.

It's claimed the money is in reward for their "dedication, loyalty and obedience" to Adolf Hitler's regime during the war.

National authorities are unaware of the identities of those receiving the tax-free payments, and only the German ambassadors in each country know who they are.

Around 30 Belgians are said to be receiving the monthly payments but it is not known how many in the UK are secretly benefiting, reports RTBF.

Among those receiving the payouts include former members of the ruthless SS, who were responsible for horrific war crimes.

Hitler himself issued the special decree rewarding those who were loyal to the Third Reich and those who joined the SS with lavish pension benefits.

The Belgian Parliament's foreign affairs committee is now discussing a proposal to stop the controversial handouts.

The motion, tabled by MP Olivier Maingain of the centre-right 'DeFi' party and two MPs of the Socialist Party (PS), calls on the Government to "urgently tackle this problem diplomatically".

DECADES OF CASH

If the motion is accepted, Belgium would need to negotiate with its German neighbours to stop the Hitler handouts as they are paid by individual German states.

Researcher Alvin De Coninck of Remembrance, an organisation of survivors and relatives of the Nazi concentration camps, said the pensions had been paid out "for almost 70 years".

Mr De Coninck said: "The privileged were inhabitants of the Eastern Cantons (of Belgium) and the Alsace who took German nationality after the Nazis invaded, but also Belgians who joined the Waffen SS during the war."

He said the recipients' loyalty to Nazi Germany had been generously rewarded.

He said: "I discovered additional pensions of 425 euro up to 1,275 euro (£372 to £1,116) per month.

"Years spent in a Belgian prison (after the war) as a result of collaboration is seen as working time. The more years in prison, the higher the handout."

Mr De Coninck said it was all the more disgraceful as Belgians used as forced labour in Germany during the war received only £44 per month in compensation.

Ulla Jelpke, the German socialist leader, said the government's parties, in particular Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), had continually blocked attempts to stop the payments.

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She told German news website DW: "I think it's unacceptable that Nazi collaborators have been getting pension payments for decades, while victims of the Nazis had to fight for compensation

"This goes for foreign SS volunteers just as much as for domestic ones. Anyone who voluntarily participated in the murderous destructive policies of the Nazis should not get any reward."

The pensions were the only decree implemented by Hitler that was not revoked at the Potsdam Conference of 1945, it's reported.

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