Germany's state-owned rail company pledged Wednesday to donate five million euros (6.6 million dollars) to a fund for Nazi victims, mostly in projects in eastern Europe.

"Sixty-five years after the end of the war, the suffering of the victims of Nazism is not forgotten," Deutsche Bahn chief executive Ruediger Grube said.

"The survivors of these crimes still suffer today from the consequences of deportation, forced labour and other Nazi atrocities."

The German national railways, then called the Reichsbahn, helped transport millions of people to work as slave labourers or to be killed in the death camps in Nazi-occupied Europe during World War II.

The money will go to the Remembrance, Responsibility and Future Foundation (EVZ), which since its creation in 2000 has disbursed some 4.4 billion euros to 1.66 million people in almost 100 countries from the German government and firms.

In March, eastern European Nazi victims had demanded Deutsche Bahn provide compensation.