Compensation for National Socialist Injustice - Indemnification Provisions
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Compensation for National Socialist Injustice Indemnification Provisions
Compensation for National Socialist Injustice Indemnification Provisions
Compensation for National Socialist Injustice Page 3
Contents
I. History of German provisions relating to compensation
and the consequences of the Second World War 5
1.1 Beginnings of compensation under occupation law 5
1.2 Restitution 5
1.3 Initial compensation provisions in the occupation zones 6
1.4 Luxembourg Agreement and Settlement Convention 6
1.5 Payments in former East Germany 7
1.6 Additional Federal Compensation Act, Federal Compensation Act
and Final Federal Compensation Act 7
1.7 General Act Regulating Compensation for War-Induced Losses 9
1.8 Compensation provisions under special legislation 9
1.9 Extra-statutory provisions of the Länder 10
1.10 First comprehensive agreements with European states 10
1.11 Arrangements with Eastern European states 11
1.12 Comprehensive agreement with the United States 11
1.13 Washington Conference on Holocaust-Era Assets 12
1.14 Foundation for Remembrance, Responsibility and the Future 12
1.15 Ghetto Work Recognition Guidelines and pension substitution supplement 13
1.16 Payment to former Soviet prisoners of war in recognition of their treatment
in German detention 14
1.17 Transforming “Wiedergutmachung” 14
II. Extra-statutory federal compensation payments 16
2.1 Hardship provision for victims of pseudo-medical experiments 16
2.2 Hardship Fund for those not of the Jewish faith who were persecuted on racial grounds 17
2.3 Extra-statutory provisions for Jewish victims 17
2.4 Compensation for non-Jewish victims 19Page 4 Contents
III. Compensation under the General Act Regulating Compensation
for War-Induced Losses 21
3.1 Government guidelines on hardship compensation to victims of
National Socialist injustice under the General Act Regulating
Compensation for War-Induced Losses 21
3.2 Payments to victims of the National Socialist military judiciary 22
IV. Provisions for the Länder in former East Germany 23
4.1 Compensation Pension Act 23
4.2 Extra-statutory provisions based on the Compensation Pension Act 23
4.3 Property law provisions in the territory of the former GDR 24
Annexes 26Compensation for National Socialist Injustice Page 5
I. History of German provisions relating to
compensation and the consequences of the
Second World War
1.1 Beginnings of alongside each other, and these were diffi-
compensation under cult to keep track of, both in terms of con-
tent and in organisational terms. The first
occupation law clear step in standardising this area of law
was to draw a line between restitution and
Almost immediately after the end of the compensation.
Second World War, it became clear that
compensation needed to be provided to
those who had suffered damage as a result
1.2 Restitution
of National Socialist injustice. Those who
had suffered oppression due to their po- The three Western powers passed restitution
litical opposition to National Socialism or acts for their occupation zones and for West
on the grounds of race, religion or ideology Berlin in 1947 and 1949. These laws dealt
were particularly affected. The first legal with restitution of and compensation for
provisions, drawn up in 1945 by the occu- property that had been unjustly confiscated
pying powers and local authorities, were between 1933 and 1945 as a result of racial,
aimed at this group of people. They were religious or political persecution. Following
largely welfare-oriented in nature and were the establishment of the Federal Republic of
based on the needs of the recipients. Germany, restitution claims against the Ger-
The establishment of Länder (states) in man Reich and other German entities in-
the three Western zones (the US, British and volved in such confiscation were governed
French occupation zones) created larger ad- by the Federal Act for the Settlement of the
ministrative units. These introduced uni- Monetary Restitution Liabilities of the Ger-
form regional compensation provisions. man Reich and Legal Entities of Equal Legal
Alongside the purely welfare-based provi- Status (Federal Restitution Act) of 19 July
sions, further measures were taken that gave 1957 (Federal Law Gazette I p. 734)1.
victims a legal entitlement to compensa-
tion. However, a large number of different 1 A list of laws mentioned in the text and their original
compensation provisions continued to exist German titles can be found in Annex 8.Page 6 History of German provisions relating to compensation
and the consequences of the Second World War
After German unification, analogous 1.4 Luxembourg Agreement
provisions were adopted for the new Länder
and Settlement
(what used to be East Germany) in the Act
Regulating Open Property Matters, which Convention
entered into force together with the Unifi-
cation Treaty, and the Victims of Nazi Per- Just as the Länder and local authorities had
secution Compensation Act (Article 3 of the done prior to its establishment, the Federal
Compensation and Corrective Payments Republic of Germany continued to treat
Act). moral and financial compensation for the
The restitution process was concluded wrongs committed by the National Socialist
a long time ago. The application deadlines regime as a priority. At a special meeting of
have passed and the administrative proce- the German Bundestag on 27 October 1951,
dures have ceased to operate. Federal Chancellor Adenauer declared that
Germany was responsible for the atrocities
committed by the National Socialist regime.
1.3 Initial compensation He stressed that the German people had an
provisions in the obligation to provide moral and material
compensation, and he offered to enter into
occupation zones negotiations with the state of Israel and
Jewish interest groups. One month later,
Compensation law governs personal in- 23 Jewish organisations joined forces and
jury and damage to property not covered by founded the ‘Conference on Jewish Mate-
restitution. Land laws were adopted in the rial Claims against Germany’ (Jewish Claims
American occupation zone as early as 1946. Conference, or JCC, for short) with the aim
They provided for provisional payments of enforcing compensation claims against
for healthcare, vocational training, self-em- Germany.
ployment, averting financial distress, and Talks with representatives of Israel and
pensions for victims and their dependants. the JCC were taken up in The Hague on 21
On 26 April 1949, the Act on the Treatment March 1952. These negotiations focused
of Victims of National Socialist Persecution on two issues: (i) the aim of concluding an
in the Area of Social Security was adopted agreement between Germany and Israel re-
for the entire American occupation zone garding global compensation for the State
by the Southern German Länder Council. It of Israel, and (ii) the two ‘Hague Protocols’
was promulgated by Land laws in Bavaria, (Federal Law Gazette II 1953, p. 35, 85) be-
Bremen, Baden-Württemberg and Hesse in tween the German government and the JCC
August 1949. In line with Article 125 of the governing individual compensation for the
Basic Law, these Land laws became federal victims of National Socialist persecution.
law when the Federal Republic of Germany These two agreements are inextri-
was established and the Basic Law entered cably linked. They were both signed
into force. In the Länder of the British and in Luxembourg at the same time, on
French occupation zones and West Berlin, 10 September 1952, and are known as the
similar laws were enacted which, with the ‘Luxembourg Agreement’. Germany agreed
exception of Länder in the British occupa- to pay DM 3 billion to the state of Israel and
tion zone, covered the same types of damage DM 450 million to the JCC.
as the Act on the Treatment of Victims of
National Socialist Persecution in the Area of
Social Security.Compensation for National Socialist Injustice Page 7
The payment to Israel was intended support for victims of the Nazi regime living
to help uprooted Jewish refugees without in other countries and also refused to accept
means who had come from Germany and that it shared moral responsibility for the
from territories that had previously been crimes of Nazi Germany.
under German rule. A large part of this pay- Under the laws in force in the Soviet
ment was made in the form of deliveries of zone, however, victims of fascism who were
goods. viewed favourably by the system received
According to the second Hague Protocol, special benefits in the context of general
the DM 450 million fund was intended for healthcare, old-age pensions and survivors’
the support and integration of Jewish vic- pensions. They were also given lump-sum
tims of persecution living outside Israel. The honorary pensions.
JCC was tasked with implementing this. Because the reinstatement of private
In the first Hague Protocol (Federal Law property was incompatible with nationali-
Gazette II 1953, p. 85), the German gov- sation efforts of the Soviet occupation zone
ernment committed itself to setting up a and subsequently the GDR, the only exist-
legislative programme for restitution and ing compensation legislation – that of the
compensation provisions across the Federal state of Thuringia, which came into force in
Republic of Germany. The protocol defined 1945 – soon ceased to be applied and was re-
the main principles of this legislation. Prin- pealed in 1952.
ciples for uniform restitution and compen- The GDR concluded settlement agree-
sation legislation had already been set down ments with Austria, Denmark, Finland and
in the fourth part of the Settlement Con- Sweden that covered all restitution claims of
vention for the Western part of Germany victims of National Socialist persecution liv-
that was concluded with the three Western ing in these countries.
occupying powers at the end of the Western
allies’ occupation in 1952 (Federal Law Ga-
zette II 1954, p. 57, 181, 194).
1.6 Additional Federal
Compensation Act,
1.5 Payments in former East Federal Compensation
Germany Act and Final Federal
Ever since its foundation in 1949, com- Compensation Act
munist East Germany, officially known as
the German Democratic Republic (GDR), The first compensation act that applied
steadfastly refused to follow the example throughout the Federal Republic of Ger-
of the Federal Republic of Germany when many was the Additional Federal Compen-
it came to compensating victims of Nazi sation Act, which was adopted on 18 Sep-
persecution. tember 1953 (Federal Law Gazette I 1953,
The GDR’s anti-fascist foundation myth p. 1387) and entered into force on 1 October
played a particularly important role in the 1953. The Additional Federal Compensation
state’s resistance towards claims for com- Act was based on the Act on the Treatment
pensation from abroad. The East German of Victims of National Socialist Persecution
state did not see itself as the Third Reich’s in the Area of Social Security (see section
legal successor. On the contrary, it viewed it- 1.3), but it considerably expanded the scope
self as being part of an anti-fascist tradition. of the earlier piece of legislation. Neverthe-
On this basis, it did not provide material less, the provisions soon proved insufficient.Page 8 History of German provisions relating to compensation
and the consequences of the Second World War
The Federal Compensation Act was through secondary procedures if they are
adopted on 29 June 1956 (Federal Law Ga- proven wrong according to the current in-
zette I 1956, p. 562). It entered into force terpretation of the law.
with retroactive effect from 1 October 1953 Numerous implementing regulations to
and fundamentally changed compensation the Federal Compensation Act have been
for the victims of National Socialism. In issued over the past decades. The first three
addition to extending eligibility, it made a of these are amended regularly to adapt
number of changes that benefited victims. the ongoing payments (pensions) to rising
The act also introduced cost-sharing be- costs of living. The fourth implementing
tween the Federation and the Länder. Previ- regulation governs the reimbursement of
ously, the Länder had borne the costs. insurance companies for costs incurred un-
Under the Federal Compensation Act, der section 182(1) of the Federal Compensa-
compensation could be provided in the tion Act. The fifth implementing regulation
form of pensions, one-off payments, re- identifies the pension schemes that were
training grants, medical treatment and dissolved by National Socialist oppressive
pensions for surviving dependants. The measures. In the sixth implementing reg-
original application deadline under the ulation (concentration camp directory),
Federal Compensation Act was 1 Octo- the German government established which
ber 1957. This was subsequently extended prison camps were to be considered con-
to 1 April 1958 in the first Act Amending centration camps in the context of the pro-
the Federal Compensation Act, which was vision in section 31(2) of the Federal Com-
adopted on 1 July 1957 (Federal Law Gazette pensation Act governing the assumed loss
I 1957, p. 663). of earning power.
In applying the legislation, however, it The Federal Compensation Act is imple-
soon became clear that further changes mented by the compensation authorities of
were needed. Lawmakers started to work the Länder. Only victims of persecution by
on a final revision of the Act. Following the National Socialist regime are eligible
four years of intense negotiations in the for compensation. Expellees as defined in
competent committees of the German the Federal Expellees Act as well as stateless
Bundestag and Bundesrat, the Final Fed- persons and refugees as defined in the Ge-
eral Compensation Act was adopted on neva Convention were also eligible for sup-
14 September 1965 (Federal Law Gazette I port under the Federal Compensation Act.
1965, p. 1315), its very name emphasising In this context, victims of persecution are
that it was to be the last. This law signifi- defined as those who suffered damage to
cantly extended the 1 April 1958 applica- life, limb or health, deprivation of freedom,
tion deadline: Article VIII (1) of the Final depreciation of property or assets, or dam-
Federal Compensation Act specified that age to their business or professional career
no claims could be made after 31 Decem- as a result of National Socialist oppression
ber 1969. This means that applications can due to their political opposition to National
no longer be submitted. The Final Federal Socialism or for reasons of race, religion or
Compensation Act did not cover Nazi vic- ideology.
tims in the communist countries of the for- Those who suffered oppression as a re-
mer Warsaw Pact. sult of being involved in artistic or aca-
However, it is still possible for payments demic pursuits of which the Nazi regime
for damage to health to be increased if the disapproved, or because they were close to
victim’s condition deteriorates. It is also a victim of persecution, are also treated as
possible for initial decisions to be revised victims of persecution.Compensation for National Socialist Injustice Page 9
Surviving dependants and close rela- 6 were fulfilled. There were exceptions for
tives who were also adversely affected by expellees (immigrants of ethnic German
National Socialist oppression are consid- origin), returnees and persons who settled in
ered to be victims of persecution under the the Federal Republic of Germany’s territory
Federal Compensation Act, as well. after 31 December 1952 by way of family
Those who suffered general war-in- reunification, but these are of virtually no
duced losses as a result of the war started practical importance today.
by Nazi Germany, for example prisoners In principle, claims had to be submitted
of war or victims of the bomb war, are not within one year after the Act entered into
considered to be victims of targeted Na- force, i.e. by 31 December 1958. If the sub-
tional Socialist persecution as defined in mission deadline had passed, an extension
the Federal Compensation Act. could be granted for one more year, i.e. until
31 December 1959.
Today, cases under section 5 are only
1.7 General Act Regulating being processed; no new claims can be
Compensation for submitted.
The Central Customs Authority’s service
War-Induced Losses centre in Cologne is responsible for pro-
cessing applications (see Annex 7, II for the
The General Act Regulating Compensa- address).
tion for War-Induced Losses of 5 November
1957 (Federal Law Gazette I 1957, p. 1747)
concerns the claims of those who suffered
1.8 Compensation
damage during the National Socialist regime provisions under special
and did not qualify as victims as defined
in section 1 of the Federal Compensation legislation
Act. While the compensation laws cover all
property and non-property claims, this Act The compensation and restitution laws were
provides for compensation only in cases supplemented by various compensation
of damage to life, limb, or health as well as provisions under special legislation.
deprivation of freedom. Section 5 of the Act A piece of legislation aimed at pub-
grants a right to compensation for unlawful lic-service employees who had been re-
violations of these legal rights in accord- moved from public service under the Na-
ance with the general legal provisions, in tional Socialist regime and had lost their
particular in accordance with the provisions rights (Act Governing Compensation for
on state liability and civil law regulations National Socialist Injustice for Public-Sec-
on unlawful acts (section 823 ff. of the Civil tor Employees) entered into force on 11 May
Code). 1951, with retroactive effect from 1 April
Claims under section 5 of the Act were 1951. It aimed to place public-service em-
recognised only if, on 31 December 1952, the ployees who had suffered persecution in the
victim had his/her domicile or was perma- position in which they would have found
nently resident within the Act’s territory of themselves had the persecution not taken
application at the time or in a state which place. On 18 May 1952, it was followed by a
had recognised the government of the Fed- similar law for public-sector employees liv-
eral Republic of Germany by 1 April 1956, ing abroad who had emigrated as a result
or if one of the other residence or qualify- of the persecution suffered. Both of these
ing date requirements specified in section pieces of legislation were made obsolete byPage 10 History of German provisions relating to compensation
and the consequences of the Second World War
the Administrative Consequences of the 1.9 Extra-statutory
War Conclusion Act of 20 September 1994.
provisions of the Länder
The Act on Social Insurance Pensions for
Victims of National Socialism was adopted Starting in 1950, individual Länder intro-
by the economic council of the combined duced their own rules providing for one-off
economic area (US and British occupation or ongoing assistance payments for those
zone) on 22 August 1949, before the German among their citizens who were victims of
Bundestag had convened for the first time. National Socialist injustice but had been un-
It was aimed at those whose social insur- able to fulfil the residence or cut-off date
ance claims, especially pensions, had been requirements laid out in the relevant legis-
reduced or lost. Most of those affected were lation or who had missed application dead-
Jewish people and political opponents of lines through no fault of their own. Gen-
the Nazi regime who had fled or emigrated erally speaking, these provisions are not
to other countries. In 1950, this Act was ex- limited to victims of persecution as defined
tended to the Länder of the former French in section 1 of the Federal Compensation
occupation zone, making provisions uni- Act. In many cases, payments for surviving
form across the country. A consolidated dependants can also be provided under the
provision for the entire country – the Act Länder provisions. As with the extra-statu-
Amending and Supplementing Regulations tory indemnification arrangements of the
on Compensation for National Socialist In- federal government, this is usually possible
justice in the Social Insurance System – was only in cases of special (financial) distress.
adopted on 22 December 1970 (Federal Law There is no legal entitlement to payments.
Gazette I 1970, p. 1846). The costs were – and See Annex 2 for information about provi-
still are – covered exclusively by the pension sions in the individual Länder.
and accident insurance providers without
government involvement.
Jewish veterans who had fought on the
1.10 First comprehensive
front in the First World War, were victims of agreements with
National Socialist oppression as described in
the Federal Compensation Act and had lost European states
(part of) the pensions to which they were
entitled as victims of war received compen- From 1959 to 1964, the Federal Republic of
sation under the Federal Act on Compensa- Germany concluded comprehensive agree-
tion for National Socialist Injustice through ments with Austria, Belgium, Denmark,
War Disablement and Survivors’ Pensions of France, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, the Neth-
25 June 1958 (Federal Law Gazette I 1958, p. erlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and
412). This piece of legislation was made ob- the UK for the benefit of nationals of these
solete by the first Regulatory Reform Act of countries who had suffered National Social-
24 April 1986 (Federal Law Gazette I 1986, p. ist persecution. Germany made available a
560). A corresponding law for claimants res- total of DM 971 million (€496.46 million)
ident abroad was adopted on 3 August 1953 on the basis of these agreements. The gov-
(Federal Law Gazette I 1953, p. 843) and en- ernments of the countries concerned were
tered into force with retroactive effect from responsible for distributing these funds
1 October 1950. amongst the victims. The comprehensive
agreements have now been closed.Compensation for National Socialist Injustice Page 11
1.11 Arrangements with Germany conducted a bilateral exchange
Eastern European states of notes with the Czech Republic on 29 De-
cember 1997 in which the two countries
Following German reunification and the agreed to establish the German-Czech Fu-
end of the East-West conflict, the German ture Fund – an endowment fund under
government also concluded agreements Czech law, headquartered in Prague, funded
with Eastern European countries govern- by both countries and designed for a period
ing compensation for victims of National of ten years. The aim of the fund is to fi-
Socialism in Central and Eastern Europe. nance social projects serving the two coun-
These were modelled after the agreements tries’ common interests, especially projects
on lump-sum compensation that had been that benefit victims of National Socialist
concluded with Western European coun- violence. Examples include care for the el-
tries between 1959 and 1964. The primary derly, support for ethnic minorities and
aim of these was to provide humanitarian joint economic and environmental projects.
aid in cases of hardship, rather than com- Between 1998 and 2000, funds amount-
pensating victims for damage to property. ing to DM 80 million were made available
To be eligible for payments, applicants had for similar measures in other Central and
to prove that they had been victims of per- Eastern European countries with which no
secution as defined in section 1 of the Fed- comprehensive compensation agreements
eral Compensation Act. have been concluded (known as the ‘Hirsch
The Federal Republic of Germany and Initiative’, which covered Albania, Croatia,
the Republic of Poland conducted a bilateral Hungary, Macedonia, Romania, Slovakia,
exchange of notes on 16 October 1991 es- Slovenia and former Yugoslavia). Various
tablishing the Foundation for German-Pol- national institutions, usually the national
ish Reconciliation in Poland, which is sub- Red Cross, assumed responsibility for carry-
ject to Polish law and was financed with ing out the initiative.
a one-off contribution of DM 500 million
(€255.64 million). The funds were intended
for persons who had suffered serious dam-
1.12 Comprehensive
age to health during the Second World War agreement with the
due to National Socialist injustice and were
in financial distress at the time. United States
Similarly, foundations for ‘Understand-
ing and Reconciliation’ were established in A comprehensive agreement between Ger-
three successor states of the Soviet Union many and the US was concluded on 19 Sep-
– one in Minsk (Republic of Belarus), one tember 1995. It dealt with compensation for
in Moscow (Russian Federation) and one in victims of National Socialism who were al-
Kyiv (Ukraine) – and endowed with a total of ready US nationals at the time of their per-
DM 1 billion (€0.51 billion). The three foun- secution and had not previously received
dations gave the assurance of making pay- any compensation. The criteria were based
ments to National Socialist victims in other on those of the Federal Compensation Act
states of the former Soviet Union. (persecution on the grounds of race, religion
The Federal Republic of Germany or ideology). Further criteria also included
granted separate assistance amounting to detention in a concentration camp and
DM 2 million (€1.02 million) to Estonia, Lat- forced labour. In terms of content and ap-
via and Lithuania. These funds were used proach, it was modelled after similar agree-
especially to support social institutions for ments that had been concluded with other
victims of National Socialism.Page 12 History of German provisions relating to compensation
and the consequences of the Second World War
Western powers between 1959 and 1964 (see tion online at www.lostart.de (see Annex 7,
section 1.10). Approximately DM 3 million VI). There is also the option of conducting
(€1.5 million) were made available. The US provenance research, which offers access to
government was responsible for allocating the results of investigations into primary
the funds. and secondary sources as well as specialist
An additional payment of DM 34.5 mil- literature. Provenance research can also be
lion (€17.6 million) was made under a performed via the Federal Office for Cen-
supplementary agreement of 25 January tral Services and Unresolved Property Issues
1999, which concluded the comprehensive (BADV) under www.badv.bund.de.
agreement. Thanks to the implementation of the
Washington principles and the joint state-
ment by the Federation, the Länder and na-
1.13 Washington Conference tional associations of local authorities, and
on Holocaust-Era on the basis of research performed, a num-
ber of paintings by well-known artists have
Assets already been returned from public owner-
ship to their legitimate owners or their heirs.
A Conference on Holocaust-Era Assets took
place in Washington, D.C., in December
1998. It was attended by Germany and 43
1.14 Foundation for
other countries as well as 12 non-govern- Remembrance,
mental organisations and the Vatican. The
result was a legally non-binding agreement Responsibility
on principles concerning works of art that and the Future
had been confiscated by the National Social-
ists (Washington Declaration of 3 Decem- The Foundation for Remembrance, Respon-
ber 1998). In acknowledgement of its his- sibility and the Future (Stiftung Erinnerung,
torical and moral responsibility, Germany Verantwortung und Zukunft, or EVZ) was
issued a joint statement by the Federation, set up in order to provide compensation to
the Länder and national associations of lo- former forced labourers. It was established
cal authorities on 9 December 1999 regard- by the Act on the Creation of a Foundation
ing the implementation of this agreement. for Remembrance, Responsibility and the
In this document, Germany committed it- Future of 2 August 2000 (Federal Law Ga-
self to tracing and returning art confiscated zette I p. 1263, most recently amended by
during National Socialism, especially Jewish the Act of 21 December 2008, Federal Law
property. Gazette I p. 1797) and equipped with DM
A manual, published in February 2001 10.1 billion (€5.16 billion). These monies
and revised in November 2007, offers prac- were made available by the Federal Republic
tical guidance on tracing and identifying of Germany and by German companies.
works of art confiscated by the National So- The main purpose of the Foundation was
cialists and for preparing decisions on their to make financial resources available for in-
possible return. dividual one-off payments to affected sur-
The German Lost Art Foundation reg- vivors. The payments were made by partner
ularly publishes the information it has on organisations in the various countries.
its database about works of art that were Resources from the Foundation were
moved, transferred or confiscated in con- primarily granted to those who had been
nection with National Socialist persecu- subjected to forced labour in concentrationCompensation for National Socialist Injustice Page 13
camps and ghettos as well as to victims who 1.15 Ghetto Work
had been deported from their home coun-
Recognition Guidelines
tries and subjected to forced labour while
being imprisoned or subjected to prison-like and pension substitution
conditions. Payments were also made to vic-
tims of forced labour in agriculture.
supplement
Section 11(1), fifth sentence, of the Foun-
dation Act also provided for payments to Under the Ghetto Pensions Act, which was
compensate victims for other personal in- adopted in 2002, Holocaust survivors who
jury suffered in connection with National took on remunerated employment of their
Socialist injustice, for example in the course own free will while detained in a ghetto that
of medical experiments or in the case of had been created by the National Socialists
death or serious damage to the health of a are eligible for a social security pension.
child kept in a home for forced labourers’ Numerous claims under the Ghetto
children. Under certain conditions, pay- Pensions Act were initially refused. In Oc-
ments from the Foundation could also be tober 2007, the German government there-
made to compensate victims for material fore adopted guidelines (Ghetto Work
losses. Recognition Guidelines) under which vic-
Seven international partner organisa- tims of Nazi persecution could receive a
tions, coordinated by an international board one-off payment of €2,000 for work in a
of trustees, were responsible for accepting ghetto which did not constitute forced
and examining claims. The final application labour and which had not yet been recog-
deadline was 31 December 2002. The pay- nised under social insurance law. However,
ments were completed in early 2007. New payments under the Ghetto Pension Act and
applications may no longer be filed. the Ghetto Work Recognition Guidelines
In total, more than 1.7 million people, were mutually exclusive. Those whose work
including 1.66 million forced labourers, re- in a ghetto had been recognised as forced
ceived payments. Of the Foundation’s capi- labour and who had already received com-
tal, €4.37 billion was disbursed for payments pensation for it from the Foundation for Re-
to former forced labourers. membrance, Responsibility and the Future
Following the end of the payments, did not qualify for payment, either. The final
EVZ’s endowment has, as provided section application deadline was 31 December 2011.
2(2) of the Foundation Act, been used to The revision of the Ghetto Work
support international projects that serve in- Recognition Guidelines of 20 July 2011
tercultural understanding, the interests of (Federal Gazette No. 110 of 26 July 2011,
survivors, youth exchanges, social justice, p. 2624) removed the link between the pay-
remembering the danger of totalitarian sys- ment in recognition of work in a ghetto and
tems and tyranny, and international cooper- the receipt of a pension under the Ghetto
ation on humanitarian issues. Pension Act with retroactive effect. As a
Further information on EVZ can be consequence, the fact that work in a ghetto
found online at www.stiftung-evz.de (see has been taken into account under social
also Annex 7, VII). security law now no longer precludes a one-
off payment being made in recognition of
ghetto work.Page 14 History of German provisions relating to compensation
and the consequences of the Second World War
The First Act to Amend the Ghetto Pen- out in guidelines that were published in the
sions Act, which entered into force on Federal Gazette on 14 October 2015 (Federal
1 August 2014, allows payments to be Gazette, official section, 14 October 2015, B1).
granted with broad retroactive effect, as far
back as 1 July 1997.
Under a German-Polish agreement that
1.17 Transforming
was concluded on 5 December 2014 and “Wiedergutmachung”
came into effect on 1 June 2015, recipients in
Poland are now also eligible for pensions. Seventy-five years have passed since the end
Since July 2017, applicants have also been of the Second World War.
entitled to a one-off payment of €1,500 un- To this day, individual compensation
der section 2(2) of the Ghetto Work Recog- payments are still being made to persons
nition Guidelines if their application to the who experienced personal persecution and
German pension authority (Deutsche Rent- injury as a result of National Socialist in-
enversicherung) was rejected only because justice in accordance with section 1 of the
the general qualifying period set out in sec- Federal Compensation Act. However, de-
tion 50(1) of the Sixth Book of the Social Se- mographic developments mean that in the
curity Code was not fulfilled. foreseeable future, these active and personal
The guidelines are implemented by a reparations to the survivors of the Holo-
dedicated working group at the Federal caust, the Romani genocide and Nazi terror
Office for Central Services and Unresolved will come to an end.
Property Issues in Berlin (see Annex 7, I). For national and international as well as
political and sociopolitical reasons, the Ger-
man government is of the firm opinion that
1.16 Payment to former this should not mark the end of compen-
Soviet prisoners of war sation (Wiedergutmachung) in the sense of
drawing a line under Germany’s activities in
in recognition of their this area.
treatment in German Rather, against a backdrop of increasing
anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial, there
detention now needs to be a greater focus on what
happened before and after 1945, on how the
The German Bundestag decided on young democracy of the Federal Republic
21 May 2015 that former Soviet prisoners of of Germany dealt with its National Socialist
war should receive a symbolic payment in past, what lessons were learned and are be-
recognition of their time in German deten- ing learned from the crimes against human-
tion. Members of the Soviet armed forces who ity committed by the National Socialist re-
were detained as prisoners of war by Germany gime, and how this can be communicated to
in the Second World War (during the period future generations in a meaningful and last-
from 22 June 1941 to 8 May 1945) could re- ing way. Compensation for National Social-
ceive a one-off payment of €2,500. The ap- ist injustice is thereby shifting from a pro-
plication deadline was 30 September 2017. gramme of active assistance for the victims
There was no legal entitlement to the pay- of persecution towards activities that focus
ment; claims were tied to the individual recip- on communicating the ways in which Ger-
ient and could not be transferred or inherited. many has taken responsibility for its past.
The heirs of former Soviet prisoners of war
were not eligible to apply. The details were setCompensation for National Socialist Injustice Page 15
Since the government’s firm foreign
policy principles and its public stance on
certain domestic policy and sociopolitical
issues are – and will be – difficult to com-
municate without reference to its continued
responsibility for the crimes committed be-
fore 1945, it will be necessary to draw more
strongly on the restitution and compensa-
tion records of victims of the National So-
cialist regime.
As the Holocaust recedes further into
the past and active compensation claims de-
cline, and given that today there are gener-
ations growing up in Germany who, as a re-
sult of their migrant backgrounds, have no
family/regional or cultural links to the Na-
tional Socialist era, it is becoming ever more
important to shine a light on these records.
Since 2017, the Federal Ministry of Fi-
nance has therefore been dedicating itself
increasingly to the follow-up tasks of com-
pensation for National Socialist injustice.
For example, Germany aims to establish a
digital platform to provide access to all res-
titution and compensation records which
are held in various locations throughout
Germany and abroad. Hundreds of thou-
sands of individual case files contain de-
tailed records of the victims of National So-
cialist injustice. In these records, the victims
describe the persecution they experienced
as well as their family histories, including
names, dates and locations, the names of
perpetrators and other victims, and much
more. The German government aims to
make all of these records fully and uni-
formly accessible in the future. They are in-
valuable not only for academic research and
for the relatives and descendants of the vic-
tims and survivors, but also for the purposes
of Holocaust education.Seite 16
II. Extra-statutory federal compensation
payments
2.1 Hardship provision apply to anyone who had already received
compensation from another source or who
for victims of was eligible for compensation under a com-
pseudo-medical prehensive agreement between the Federal
Republic of Germany and one of various Eu-
experiments ropean states (see section 1.10). Due to the
particular cruelty of the pseudo-medical ex-
periments, the provision’s area of applica-
Persons who had suffered damage to their tion, which was originally limited to certain
health due to the pseudo-medical experi- territories, was extended by a subsequent
ments carried out in several National So- Cabinet decision of 22 June 1960 to include
cialist concentration camps were entitled assistance for victims of human experiments
to compensation for the damage caused to who live in states with which the Federal Re-
body or health. They initially qualified un- public of Germany did not have diplomatic
der Land legislation and subsequently un- relations at that time. Claims by nationals of
der the Additional Federal Compensation these states (Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugo-
Act of 1953, superseded by the Federal Com- slavia, Hungary and Romania) were exam-
pensation Act of 1956, and were also entitled ined individually on behalf of the German
to compensation from a special fund under Government by a neutral commission of the
Article V of the Final Federal Compensation International Committee of the Red Cross
Act of 1965. (ICRC) in Geneva that had been established
In a Cabinet decision of 26 July 1951, the for this purpose. Compensation was granted
federal government had already established from the funds made available by the Ger-
a hardship provision for victims of human man government.
experiments who had not been harmed on In an effort to provide compensation for
the grounds of political opposition, race, re- the victims of experiments as quickly as pos-
ligion or ideology, did not fulfil the statutory sible, the German government, in agreement
residence or qualifying date requirements, or with the ICRC, concluded comprehensive
had failed to meet the application deadline. agreements with Yugoslavia, Czechoslova-
This consisted of a one-off payment in cases kia, Hungary and Poland for the benefit of
of particular hardship. Due to its strictly those applicants who had not yet received
subsidiary nature, as confirmed by rulings compensation but could expect a decision in
by the highest court, this provision did not their favour.Compensation for National Socialist Injustice Page 17
2.2 Hardship Fund for those Applications may be submitted to the
not of the Jewish faith Federal Ministry of Finance (Bonn office);
there is no need to fill out a form (for con-
who were persecuted on tact details see Annex 7, III). There is no le-
racial grounds gal entitlement to payments. Payments are
strictly tied to the individual recipient and
A fund for those who are not of the Jew- cannot be inherited or transferred.
ish faith but were nonetheless persecuted Payments under the fund can be pro-
as Jews under the National Socialist regime vided to organisations running old people’s
(HNG Fund) was established in 1952, even homes or other homes if these organisations
before the Luxembourg Agreement. This make a long-term commitment to provide
group of people also suffered persecution, a certain requisite number of places in their
as the Nazis persecuted Jews on racial rather homes to those eligible for payments.
than religious grounds and therefore also
targeted those who were not of the Jewish
faith but were regarded as Jews under the
2.3 Extra-statutory
National Socialist race theory. provisions for
Payments from the fund (in the version
of 15 September 1966; Federal Gazette No. Jewish victims
178 of 22 September 1966) may be granted
to individuals who were persecuted because After the application deadline under the Fi-
of their Jewish origins as defined by the nal Federal Compensation Act had expired
Nuremberg Laws of 1935 or to near relatives at the end of 1969, special cases of hardship
who were also adversely affected by perse- continued to emerge where applicants were
cution. Those who are/were members of the not eligible for payments because they had
Jewish faith at the time of persecution or at missed the deadline. Moreover, various East-
the time of the decision on their claim for ern European countries introduced emigra-
compensation are not eligible. This is in or- tion opportunities for Jewish citizens in the
der to distinguish these victims from those late 1970s, as a result of which significant
who fall under the responsibility of the Jew- numbers of Jewish victims of Nazi persecu-
ish Claims Conference, which represents the tion were able to emigrate from these coun-
interests of members of the Jewish faith. tries to Israel. Under the provisions applica-
Payments from the fund may be granted ble at the time, people in this group did not
either in the form of one-off or ongoing qualify for compensation. For this reason,
assistance. The factors taken into consid- the Knesset demanded changes in German
eration include the gravity and impact of compensation provisions. In a resolution of
the persecution as well as the financial and 14 December 1979 (Bundestag printed doc-
personal circumstances of the applicant and ument 8/3511), the German Bundestag re-
of any relatives legally obliged to provide quested the Federal Government to enact
support to him/her. The amount of the on- hardship guidelines to enable this group of
going assistance payments is determined victims to receive support. Under the en-
by guideline figures which are regularly ad- suing guidelines of 3 October 1980 (Federal
justed in line with general economic trends. Gazette No. 192 of 14 October 1980), Jewish
One-off assistance is generally granted to victims of National Socialist persecution
cover the cost of living, specific costs in- can receive a one-off payment of DM 5,000
curred by illness which are not otherwise (€2,556.46) through the Jewish Claims Con-
covered, or for the acquisition of household ference (JCC).
articles or clothing.Page 18 Extra-statutory federal compensation payments
Since 1992, the guidelines have formed In principle, if one of the two forms of
part of what is known as the Article 2 Agree- compensation is approved, it rules out re-
ment. It was concluded with the JCC under ceiving the other. One-off payments from
Article 2 of the supplementary agreement to German sources and ongoing assistance
the Unification Treaty between the Federal payments are not mutually exclusive. The
Republic of Germany and the former Ger- Article 2 Agreement now also covers assis-
man Democratic Republic and deals with tance under a January 1998 agreement gov-
the compensation of Jewish victims of Nazi erning compensation for Jewish victims liv-
persecution who have not yet received any ing in Central and Eastern Europe (the JCC’s
payments. In 2012, precisely twenty years af- former Central and Eastern European Fund,
ter the Agreement was originally concluded, or CEEF).
the arrangements that had been made until Ongoing assistance is granted for the
then were documented in a revised version. duration of the financial distress. Pensions
Under this agreement, Jewish victims of provided on account of old age, reduced
National Socialist persecution who were earning capacity or death and comparable
directly affected by National Socialist vio- payments are not taken into account when
lence as defined in section 2 of the Federal calculating income.
Compensation Act, or those who lost their There is no legal entitlement to assistance
parents to National Socialist violence (child under the Article 2 Agreement. Payments are
victims of persecution), and who have re- strictly tied to the individual recipient and
ceived no compensation payments to date, cannot be inherited or transferred. They can-
can receive a one-off payment of €2,556.46. not be paid out to third parties. An exception
Claims under the hardship fund can also be applies to surviving spouses or, if the spouse
made by individuals who were not yet born is also deceased, to surviving children as
at the time of the persecution, but suffered joint beneficiaries in cases where the victim
in the womb from their pregnant mother’s dies after submitting an application but be-
persecution. fore a decision is reached. In such cases, the
In addition to one-off payments, the payment is capped at €2,556.
Agreement also covers ongoing monthly It is necessary to provide proof of en-
payments for Jewish victims of National So- titlement. Should this not be possible, the
cialist persecution who are in financial dis- entitlement can be substantiated in a suit-
tress and, in addition, able and plausible way. The payments can
• were detained in a concentration camp be refused in full or in part if the applicant
or ghetto as described in section 42(2) of the resorted to improper means or caused, en-
Federal Compensation Act or couraged or allowed the submission of in-
• lived under degrading conditions ei- correct or misleading information, either
ther in hiding or in illegality under a false through wilful intent or gross negligence. In
identity. such cases, payments may be claimed back in
A list of prison camps for the purposes of whole or in part.
the Article 2 Agreement with the JCC can be The JCC was tasked with distributing the
found at www.bundesfinanzministerium.de funds provided by Germany. The JCC has
/Haftstaetten; sole responsibility for making decisions in
a list of ghettos (in German only) is available individual cases, based on the criteria set
at www.bundesfinanzministerium.de/ out in the agreement. Applications should
Ghettoliste. be addressed to the JCC’s offices (see Annex
7, V).Compensation for National Socialist Injustice Page 19
The Federal Ministry of Finance con- 2.4 Compensation for
ducts regular talks with the JCC about the
non-Jewish victims
implementation of the agreement with
the aim of adjusting the entitlement to The German Government made provisions
payments. for non-Jewish victims that are similar to
In recent years, the need for home nurs- the provisions for Jewish victims. These are
ing and medical care for the elderly survi- set out in the guidelines on payments to
vors of the Holocaust has increased par- non-Jewish victims of persecution to com-
ticularly strongly. That is why the JCC also pensate for hardship in individual cases
receives funds under the Article 2 Agree- (adopted on 26 August 1981 and amended
ment for the purpose of maintaining and on 7 March 1988), known as the Compensa-
improving nursing and care options, espe- tion Reserve Fund, or WDF (Federal Gazette
cially care in their own homes, for Jewish No. 55 of 19 March 1988).
victims of persecution as defined in section Under these provisions, non-Jewish vic-
1 of the Federal Compensation Act. tims of persecution who suffered damage to
Following intensive discussions in con- their health as a result of National Socialist
nection with the 80th anniversary of the injustice or who were prosecuted because
Kindertransport, the Federal Ministry of Fi- of their political opposition to National So-
nance and the JCC agreed on a one-off sym- cialism or on the grounds of race, religion
bolic payment of €2,500 for Kindertransport or ideology (sections 1 and 2 of the Federal
evacuees. Compensation Act) but were not eligible for
The term Kindertransport (“children’s statutory compensation payments for for-
transport”) refers to an evacuation opera- mal reasons could receive one-off payments
tion which began following the Reichspo- of up to €2,556.46 and, in special cases, on-
gromnacht on 9 November 1938. Around going assistance.
10,000 Jewish children travelled without The following constitute special cases:
their parents from Germany and territories • Detainment in a concentration camp as
that had been annexed or occupied by Ger- defined by the Federal Compensation
many to safe countries. Most of the journeys Act for at least three months; individual
occurred before the war began on 1 Septem- reviews are possible in cases of shorter
ber 1939, and the main destination was the imprisonment.
United Kingdom.
• Detainment in a prison camp or life in
The one-off payment is intended to rec-
camp-like conditions for at least three
ognise the particular suffering of these chil-
months; individual reviews are possible
dren, who were forced to leave their families
in cases of shorter imprisonment.
in peacetime. In many cases, they never saw
their families again. • Life in hiding in degrading or
Here, too, the JCC was tasked with dis- particularly difficult conditions or in
tributing the funds provided by Germany. illegality for at least four months if this
The JCC decides on individual cases, on the led to permanent damage to health and
basis of jointly agreed criteria. Applications a disability of at least 50%.
for this payment should also be addressed
to the JCC’s offices (see Annex 7, V). Ongoing assistance under the Compen-
sation Reserve Fund can be granted only to
German citizens who live in Germany or to
foreign citizens of German origin as defined
in the Federal Expellees Act.Page 20 Extra-statutory federal compensation payments
There is no legal entitlement to pay-
ments from the Compensation Reserve
Fund. Payments are strictly tied to the indi-
vidual recipient and cannot be inherited or
transferred.
Claims under these guidelines are pro-
cessed by the Federal Ministry of Finance
(Bonn office; see Annex 7, III).Compensation for National Socialist Injustice Page 21
III. Compensation under the
General Act Regulating Compensation
for War-Induced Losses
3.1 Government guidelines ther because the victim missed the relevant
on hardship deadline or for other reasons.
Those eligible for payments include
compensation to victims victims of forced sterilisation and the eu-
of National Socialist thanasia programme as well as individuals
who were identified by the National Social-
injustice under the ist state or party as ‘work-shy’, ‘refusing to
work’, ‘asocial’, homosexual, ‘criminal’ and
General Act Regulating ‘vagrant’ and who suffered National Social-
Compensation for ist oppression for this reason. Victims of
psychiatric persecution and members of the
War-Induced Losses youth resistance movement also fall into
this category. Lawfully imposed penalties
The German government guidelines on are deemed to constitute injustice if they
hardship compensation to victims of Na- were unusually harsh, taking the circum-
tional Socialist injustice under the General stances of the time and of war into account.
Act Regulating Compensation for War-In- Payments are also made to persons who
duced Losses were issued on 7 March 1988 were imprisoned between 1933 and 1945
and revised on 28 March 2011 (Federal Ga- provided that the imprisonment was based
zette of 15 October 2014, p. 1229). They stip- on a penal decision that was subsequently
ulate that compensation must be provided reversed by law.
to persons who were not victims of perse- Payments can be granted only to Ger-
cution as defined in section 1 of the Federal man citizens or, in the case of individuals
Compensation Act, but who, due to their who are not German citizens or who ac-
physical or mental constitution or to their quired their citizenship after 8 May 1945,
personal or social behaviour, were either in- to those who are of German ethnic origin
dividually or collectively targeted by the Na- as defined in sections 1 and 6 of the Federal
tional Socialist regime, and as a result suf- Expellees Act. An individual must either be
fered injustice. These payments are intended domiciled, or have his or her permanent
to mitigate hardship that persists despite place of residence, in the Federal Republic
the provisions of the General Act Regulating of Germany at the time he or she submits an
Compensation for War-Induced Losses, ei- application for compensation.Page 22 Extra-statutory federal compensation payments
Compensation is provided in the form of 3.2 Payments to victims of
one-off payments (up to €2,556.46), ongoing
the National Socialist
monthly payments, and additional ongoing
payments (in individual cases). military judiciary
Persons who suffered significant dam-
age to their body or health, victims of forced Individuals who were convicted of ‘incit-
sterilisation and victims of the euthanasia ing disobedience’, ‘conscientious objection’
programme are entitled to a one-off pay- or ‘desertion’ during the Second World
ment of €2,556.46. Persons who suffered War were eligible for a one-off payment
deprivation of liberty receive a one-off of €3,834.68 in addition to any payments
payment of €76.69 for each month (or part received or due under the guidelines de-
thereof) of detainment, up to a maximum of scribed in the preceding section of this bro-
€2,556.46. chure. Provision for this payment was made
Victims of forced sterilisation and those in the Instructions for the Final Settlement
affected directly by euthanasia measures are of the Rehabilitation and Compensation of
entitled to ongoing monthly assistance in Individuals Convicted During the Second
addition to the one-off payment. World War for ‘Inciting Disobedience’, ‘Con-
Additional ongoing payments can be scientious Objection’ or ‘Desertion’ of 17
granted in certain exceptional cases in December 1997 (Federal Gazette No. 2 of 6
which there are special circumstances that January 1998), most recently amended on 30
make further assistance necessary and the December 1998 (Federal Gazette No. 8 of 14
victim is in financial distress. January 1999).
Assistance under these guidelines strictly It was introduced following a sugges-
tied to the individual recipient and cannot tion made on 15 May 1997 by the Bundestag
be inherited or transferred. In exceptional committee on legal affairs. The Bundestag
cases, assistance may also be granted to sur- had determined that, in the above-men-
viving spouses, if they were significantly af- tioned cases, the judgements passed by the
fected by the injustice or its consequences. Wehrmacht judiciary during the Second
Children whose parents were both World War were unjust under rule-of-law
killed due to a National Socialist oppressive principles. Compensation was granted in
measure may receive a one-off payment of more than 500 cases. The application dead-
€2,556.46 provided that, at the time of their line was 31 December 1999.
parents’ death, they had not yet reached the
age of twenty-one or, if they were still un-
dergoing education and were entitled to
maintenance, they had not yet reached the
age of twenty-seven. All assistance is pro-
vided in compensation for the injustice suf-
fered. Applications for assistance covered by
the guidelines on hardship compensation to
victims of National Socialist injustice under
the General Act Regulating Compensation
for War-Induced Losses should be addressed
to the Central Customs Authority’s service
centre in Cologne (see Annex 7, II).Compensation for National Socialist Injustice Page 23
IV. Provisions for the Länder in former
East Germany
4.1 Compensation Pension 4.2 Extra-statutory
Act provisions based on the
The provisions on honorary and depend- Compensation Pension
ants’ pensions for victims of National So-
cialism from the former GDR were revised
Act
in the Compensation Pension Act of 22 April
1992 (Federal Law Gazette I, p. 906), which Compensation is also available to those
came into force on 1 May 1992. This new who are victims as defined in section 1 of
legislation was necessary because the legal the Federal Compensation Act but are not
basis for honorary pensions paid out in the entitled to a compensation pension under
former GDR to fighters against fascism and the Compensation Pension Act and were, or
the victims of fascism, as well as their de- are, unable to receive payments under other
pendants, largely ceased to exist on 31 De- compensation regulations on account of
cember 1991. living in the former GDR. This is governed
As well as establishing that payment by a supplementary provision that also en-
of honorary pensions already in existence tered into force on 1 May 1992 in the form
on 30 April 1992 be continued in the form of German government guidelines based on
of compensation pensions (the amount of section 8 of the Compensation Pension Act
which was modified), the Compensation (Federal Gazette No. 95 of 21 May 1992, p.
Pension Act also gives victims of National 4185). Those who left the former GDR after
Socialism who were refused an honorary 30 June 1969 and started living in the terri-
pension on unconstitutional grounds by tory of the Federal Republic of Germany as
the GDR agency responsible at the time, or it was on 2 October 1990 are also entitled to
whose pension was initially approved but submit an application.
subsequently withdrawn, a right to submit a
new application.
The Federal Insurance Office (Bundesver-
sicherungsamt) is responsible for imple-
menting this law (see Annex 7, IV).You can also read
