Compensation for
National Socialist Injustice
Indemnification Provisions
Compensation for
National Socialist Injustice
Indemnification Provisions
November 2012
Compensation for National Socialist injustice Indemnification Provisions
Contents
I.
Development of provisions governing compensation and the consequences of war in Germany . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page
5
1.1
Beginnings of compensation under occupation law . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page
5
1.2
Restitution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page
5
1.3
Luxembourg Agreement, Hague Protocols and Settlement Convention . . Page
6
1.4
Additional Federal Compensation Act (1953) and Federal Compensation Act (1956) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page
7
1.5
Implementing regulations to the Federal Compensation Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page
7
1.6
Final Federal Compensation Act (1965) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page
7
1.7
General Act Regulating Compensation for War-Induced Losses . . . . . . . . . . Page
8
1.8
First comprehensive agreements with European states . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page
8
1.9
German government directives, Article 2 Agreement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page
9
1.10
Arrangements with Eastern European states . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 10
1.11
Central and Eastern European Fund (JCC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 10
1.12
Compensation for forced labourers and other victims of National Socialism –
Foundation for Remembrance, Responsibility and the Future . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 11
1.13
Ghetto Work Recognition Directive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 12
1.14
Washington Conference on Holocaust-Era Assets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page
II.
Provisions based on the Federal Compensation Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 14
2.1
Federal Compensation Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 14
2.2
Extra-legal provisions for Jewish victims (Article 2 Agreement) . . . . . . . . . . . Page 16
2.3
Fund for those not of the Jewish faith who were persecuted as Jews under 1
the National Socialist regime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 17
2.4
Compensation for non-Jewish victims . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 17
Page 3
III.
Legislation for the new Länder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 19
3.1
Compensation Pension Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 19
3.2
Extra-legal regulations based on the Compensation Pension Act . . . . . . . . . Page 19
3.3
Property law regulations in the territory of the former GDR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 21
IV.
Compensation under the General Act Regulating Compensation for War-Induced Losses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 22
4.1
General Act Regulating Compensation for War-Induced Losses of 5 November 1957 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 22
4.2
Government directives on hardship compensation to victims of National Socialist injustice under the General Act Regulating Compensation for War-Induced Losses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 23
4.3
Payments to victims of the National Socialist military judiciary . . . . . . . . . . Page 27
4.4
Further information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 27 Annexes 1 – 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 28
Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 38
List of law mentioned . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 40
Compensation for National Socialist injustice
I. Development of provisions governing
compensation and the consequences
of war in Germany
1.1 Beginnings of
compensation under
occupation law
Almost immediately after the end of the
Second World War, it became clear that
compensation needed to be provided for
the wrongs committed by the National So­
cialist regime. Those who had suffered op­
pression due to their political opposition to
National Socialism or on the grounds of
race, religion or ideology were particularly
affected. Legislation was therefore drawn
up in 1945 by the occupying powers and the
municipalities. This led to a wide range of
different measures, some of them compen­
satory, others more welfare-oriented in na­
ture. The creation of the Länder (states)
meant that larger administrative units were
formed in Germany, and uniform regional
compensation provisions were introduced
too. Even then, however, it was difficult to
keep track of the many different compensa­
tion provisions, both in terms of content
and in terms of structure. The first step in
standardising this area of law was to draw a
line between restitution and compensation.
1.2 Restitution
In 1947 and 1949, the three Western powers
passed restitution acts for their occupation
zones and for West Berlin governing resti­
tution of and compensation for property
unjustly confiscated between 1933 and 1945
as a result of racial, religious or political
persecution. Following the establishment of
the Federal Republic of Germany, restitu­
tion claims against the German Reich and
other German entities involved in such
confiscation were governed by the Federal
Restitution Act of 19 July 1957 (Federal Law
Gazette I, p. 734). Following German unifi­
cation, provisions that were analogous to
those in the restitution acts were adopted
for the new Länder in the Act Regulating
Open Property Matters (which entered into
force together with the Unification Treaty)
and the Victims of Nazi Persecution Com­
pensation Act (Article 3 of the Compensa­
tion and Corrective Payments Act).
The restitution process was concluded a
long time ago. The application deadlines
have passed and the administrative proce­
dures have ceased to operate.
Page 5
Page 6
Development of provisions governing compensation and the consequences of war in Germany
Compensation provisions in the occu­
pation zones
As far as compensation law governing per­
sonal injury cases and damage to property
not covered by restitution is concerned,
Land laws were adopted in the American
occupation zone as early as 1946. They pro­
vided for provisional payments for health­
care, vocational training, self-employment,
remedies for distress situations and pen­
sions for victims and their dependants. On
26 April 1949, the Act on the Treatment of
Victims of National Socialist Persecution in
the Area of Social Security (Compensation
Act) was adopted for the entire American
occupation zone by the Southern German
Länder Council. This was promulgated by
Land laws in Bavaria, Bremen, Baden-Würt­
temberg and Hesse in August 1949. In line
with Article 125 of the Basic Law, these
Land laws became federal law when the
Federal Republic of Germany was estab­
lished and the Basic Law entered into force.
Corresponding laws were enacted in the
Länder of the British and French occupa­
tion zones and in West Berlin. With the ex­
ception of Länder in the British occupation
zone, these laws governed the same types of
damage as the Compensation Act.
1.3 Luxembourg
Agreement, Hague
Protocols and Settle­
ment Convention
Just as the Länder and municipalities had
done prior to its establishment, the Federal
Republic of Germany continued to treat
moral and financial compensation for the
wrongs committed by the National Socialist
regime as a priority. The German Govern­
ment decided as early as on 26 July 1951
that victims of pseudo-medical experi­
ments should be compensated. Over the
course of the year, great efforts were made
both in the Länder and at federal level to in­
troduce nation-wide compensation rules.
At a special meeting of the German Bun­
destag on 27 October 1951, Federal Chan­
cellor Adenauer declared that Germany was
responsible for the atrocities committed by
the National Socialist regime and offered to
enter into negotiations with the state of Is­
rael and the Jewish Claims Conference
(JCC). This “Conference on Jewish Material
Claims Against Germany” had been
founded by 23 Jewish organisations on the
previous day with the aim of enforcing
compensation claims against Germany.
Talks with representatives of Israel and
the JCC were taken up in The Hague on
21 March 1952.
As a result of these talks, the Hague Pro­
tocols was initialled on 8 September 1952
and an agreement with the state of Israel
was signed in Luxembourg on 10 Septem­
ber. In this “Luxembourg Agreement”, Ger­
many committed itself to paying DM3 bil­
lion to the state of Israel and DM450 million
to the JCC. Germany made a large part of its
payments to Israel in the form of deliveries
of goods. In return, Israel waived compen­
sation for Jewish victims of persecution
who were resident in Israel in 1952.
According to the second protocol to the
agreement, the DM450 million fund for the
JCC was intended for the support and inte­
gration of Jewish victims of persecution liv­
ing outside Israel. In the first protocol, the
German Government committed itself to
establishing a legislative programme for
Germany-wide restitution and compensa­
tion rules, and the basic principles of this
legislation were defined.
Principles for uniform restitution and
compensation legislation were also set
down in the Settlement Convention con­
cluded in 1952 with the three Western oc­
cupying powers (Federal Law Gazette II
1954, p. 57, 181, 194).
Compensation for National Socialist injustice
1.4 Additional Federal
Compensation Act
(1953) and Federal
Compensation Act
(1956)
The first compensation act that applied
throughout the whole of Germany was the
Additional Federal Compensation Act,
which was adopted on 18 September 1953
(Federal Law Gazette I p. 1387) and entered
into force on 1 October 1953. Although this
was much more than an addition to the Act
on the Treatment of the Victims of National
Socialist Persecution in the Area of Social
Security, and in particular created legal
equality and security on the territory of the
Federal Republic of Germany, its provisions
also proved inadequate. Following very de­
tailed and careful preparation, the Federal
Compensation Act (Federal Law Gazette I,
p. 562) was adopted on 29 June 1956 and en­
tered into force with retroactive effect from
1 October 1953. This Act fundamentally
changed compensation for the victims of
National Socialism and introduced a num­
ber of amendments improving their situa­
tion. At the outset, the Federal Compensa­
tion Act only provided for applications to
be submitted until 1 April 1958.
1.5 Implementing
regulations to the Fed­
eral Compensation Act
Six implementing regulations to the Federal
Compensation Act have been issued, of
which the first three have been regularly
amended to adapt the ongoing payments
(pensions) to increasing costs of living.
The fourth implementing regulation gov­
erns the reimbursement of costs for the in­
volvement of insurance companies in re­
solving claims for compensation for insur­
ance losses.
The fifth implementing regulation de­
termines which pension schemes were dis­
solved by National Socialist oppression.
In the sixth implementing regulation
(concerning a concentration camp direc­
tory), the German Government established
which prison camps were to be considered
concentration camps in the context of the
provision in section 31 subsection (2) of the
Federal Compensation Act governing the
assumed loss of earning power.
1.6 Final Federal Compen­
sation Act (1965)
In applying the Federal Compensation Act,
further need for amendment became clear.
There was an awareness that the new piece
of legislation would not be able to take ac­
count of all the demands of those eligible
for compensation and that, given the high
number of settled cases, these could not be
re-opened. The amendment was thus to
constitute the final piece of legislation in
this field. After four years of intense negoti­
ations in the competent committees of the
German Bundestag and Bundesrat, the Final
Federal Compensation Act was adopted on
14 September 1965 (Federal Law Gazette I,
p. 1315), its very name emphasising that it
was to be the last.
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Development of provisions governing compensation and the consequences of war in Germany
The Final Federal Compensation Act con­
siderably extended the deadline (originally
1 April 1958, cf. I.5) as follows:
> The deadline was annulled in cases of
claims for immediate assistance and for
mitigation of hardship (section 189 sub­
section (1) of the Federal Compensation
Act)
1.7 General Act Regulating
Compensation for
War-Induced Losses
> The deadline for subsequent registra­
tion of claims was extended to 31 De­
cember 1965 (section 189a subsection (1)
of the Federal Compensation Act)
The payments provided for in the compen­
sation laws are reserved for those who were
victims of typical National Socialist injus­
tice – those persecuted for reasons of race,
religion or political conviction. For other
injustice leading to loss of life, damage to
limb or health, or deprivation of liberty,
compensation is granted under the General
Act Regulating Compensation for War-In­
duced Losses of 5 November 1957 (Federal
Law Gazette I, p.1747). Pensions and one-off
compensation payments could – and, in ex­
ceptional cases, still can – be paid under
section 5 of this Act in conjunction with the
general legal provisions.
> The subsequent registration of facts
that had come to light after 31 Decem­
ber 1964 within one year (section 189a
subsection (2) of the Federal Compensa­
tion Act) was introduced
1.8 First comprehensive
agreements with
European states
> The original legal position was
restored in the case of failure to submit
applications prior to the deadline
through no fault of the applicant (sec­
tion 189 subsection (3) of the Federal
Compensation Act)
Nevertheless, Article VIII (1) of the Final
Federal Compensation Act provides that
even in cases of the original legal position
being restored, no claims can be made after
the 31 December 1969 deadline. In other
words, claims for compensation payments
under the Federal Compensation Act can
no longer be submitted today.
However, payments for damage to
health can be adapted in cases where the
victim's condition deteriorates.
Furthermore, initial decisions can be re­
vised through secondary procedures if they
have been proved wrong according to the
current interpretation of the law.
The compensation and restitution acts
were complemented by laws on compensa­
tion for public sector employees and in the
sphere of insurance and pension law.
From 1959 to 1964, comprehensive agree­
ments were concluded with Austria, Bel­
gium, Britain, Denmark, France, Greece,
Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Nor­
way, Sweden and Switzerland for the bene­
fit of nationals of these countries who had
suffered National Socialist persecution. The
Federal Republic of Germany made avail­
able a total of €496.46 million (DM971 mil­
lion) on the basis of these agreements. It fell
to the governments of the countries con­
cerned to distribute this financing amongst
the victims. The comprehensive agreements
have now been closed.
Compensation for National Socialist injustice
1.9 German government
directives, Article 2
Agreement
After the deadline under the Final Federal
Compensation Act had expired at the end of
1969, special cases of hardship continued to
emerge where applicants were not eligible
for payments because they had missed the
deadline. Moreover, various Eastern Euro­
pean countries introduced emigration sys­
tems for Jewish citizens, as a result of which
significant numbers of Jewish victims of
Nazi persecution were able to emigrate
from these countries to Israel. Because peo­
ple in this group were excluded from re­
ceiving compensation at the time, the Knes­
set demanded changes in German compen­
sation provisions.
The German Bundestag requested the
German Government to enact hardship
compensation to enable those affected to
receive support (resolution of 14 December
1979, (German Bundestag printed docu­
ment 8/3511)). As a result, the directives on
hardship compensation for Jewish victims
of National Socialist persecution were is­
sued on 3 October 1980 (Federal Gazette of
14 October 1980, No 192). Under these di­
rectives, a fund worth DM400 million was
created, from which the JCC was to distrib­
ute one-off payments of DM5,000 to Jewish
victims of National Socialist persecution.
Similar rules were introduced for non-Jew­
ish victims of National Socialist persecution
in 1981 (Federal Gazette of 29 August 1981,
No 160). A compensation reserve fund was
also established under the directives on
hardship compensation for non-Jewish vic­
tims of persecution, enabling victims resi­
dent in Germany to receive monthly pay­
ments of DM500. Although the DM400 mil­
lion fund for Jewish victims of Nazi perse­
cution was depleted over the subsequent
years, numerous applicants had still not re­
ceived any compensation, and the German
Government therefore made a further
pledge to provide a total of DM135 million
for the fund.
The situation changed with German
unification. Article 2 of the supplementary
agreement to the Unification Treaty (Agree­
ment between the Federal Republic of Ger­
many and the German Democratic Republic
on the Enactment and Interpretation of the
Treaty concluded in Berlin on 30 August
1990 between the Federal Republic of Ger­
many and the German Democratic Republic
on the Establishment of German Unity,
published in Bulletin No. 112, p. 1177 of
20 September 1990 – Press and Information
Office of the German Government) stipu­
lated that the Federal Republic of Germany
should conclude an agreement with the JCC
on the compensation of Jewish victims of
Nazi persecution who had not yet received
any payments. This agreement – known as
the Article 2 Agreement – was enacted on
29 October 1992. From then on, the one-off
payments of DM5,000 defined in the hard­
ship directives of 1980 were provided under
this agreement. The agreement also intro­
duced the possibility of a monthly payment
of DM500 to Jewish victims who had suf­
fered particularly severe persecution. The
Federal Ministry of Finance conducts regu­
lar talks with the JCC about the implemen­
tation of the agreement with the aim of
modifying and enhancing the entitlement
to payments.
In 2012, twenty years after it was origi­
nally concluded, it was decided that the
agreement should be revised in order to
simplify the rules and take account of
arrangements that have been made in the
meantime with regard to modifications.
Page 9
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Development of provisions governing compensation and the consequences of war in Germany
1.10 Arrangements with
Eastern European
states
Following the process of German unifica­
tion and the end of the East-West conflict,
the Federal Republic of Germany concluded
arrangements on compensation for Na­
tional Socialist injustice with Poland and
three successor states of the Soviet Union
(the Republic of Belarus, the Russian Feder­
ation and Ukraine).
The Federal Republic of Germany and
the Republic of Poland agreed to establish
the Foundation for German-Polish Recon­
ciliation in Poland, which is subject to Pol­
ish law and was financed with a one-off
contribution of €255.64 million (DM500
million). These funds were for persons who
had suffered serious damage to health dur­
ing the Second World War due to National
Socialist injustice and were subsequently in
a difficult financial situation.
Foundations for understanding and rec­
onciliation were established in Moscow,
Minsk and Kiev in 1993 for the same pur­
pose. Germany donated a total of €0.51 bil­
lion (DM1 billion) for these foundations.
They in turn gave the assurance of making
payments to National Socialist victims in
other states of the former Soviet Union.
More than 15,000 eligible persons in the
Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania)
received payments on the accepted scale
from the funds of the foundations in
Moscow and Minsk. Because some of those
eligible from the Baltic states refused to ap­
ply to the foundations in Moscow and
Minsk, additional infrastructure assistance
of €1.02 million (DM2 million) was granted
to the government of each Baltic state. So­
cial institutions have been supported using
these funds, especially for victims of Na­
tional Socialism.
Compensation payments were also
made to the other Eastern and South-East­
ern European states of the former Eastern
bloc.
For Czech victims of National Socialism,
compensation was granted by the GermanCzech Future Fund in accordance with the
German-Czech declaration of 21 January
1997. Germany made €71.58 million
(DM140 million) available for this Fund.
In order to carry out similar measures in
the other Central and Eastern European
countries (Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Yugo­
slavia, Croatia, Macedonia, Romania, Slova­
kia, Slovenia and Hungary), the 1998 German budget earmarked €40.90 million
(DM80 million) to be made available from
1998 to 2000. Various national institutions,
usually the national Red Cross, assumed re­
sponsibility for carrying out such measures
in the remaining Central and Eastern Euro­
pean states.
1.11 Central and Eastern
European Fund (JCC)
Given the particular suffering of Jewish vic­
tims in Central and Eastern European
states, the JCC established a Fund to finance
additional measures for Jewish victims who
had suffered particular hardship. The fund
made monthly payments to victims of Na­
tional Socialism who were residents of East­
ern European countries. In the revised ver­
sion of the Article 2 Agreement, this fund
was incorporated into its broader regula­
tory framework.
Compensation for National Socialist injustice
1.12 Compensation for
forced labourers and
other victims of
National Socialism
–Foundation for
Remembrance,
Responsibility and the
Future
The Foundation for Remembrance, Respon­
sibility and the Future was established by
the Act on the Creation of a Foundation for
Remembrance, Responsibility and the Fu­
ture (Foundation Act) of 2 August 2000
(Federal Law Gazette I, p. 1263, most re­
cently amended by the Act of 21 December
2006, Federal Law Gazette I, p. 3343) and
equipped with €5.16 billion (DM10.1 billion)
to provide compensation in particular to
former forced labourers. These monies were
made available by the Federal Republic of
Germany and German companies.
The main purpose of the Foundation
was to make financial compensation avail­
able to affected persons through partner or­
ganisations. The individual partner organi­
sations were responsible for accepting and
examining claims.
An application deadline – 31 December
2001 – had to be introduced to ensure that
payments to those eligible were made with­
out delay. An extension – until 31 Decem­
ber 2002 – was granted where applicants
failed to meet this deadline through no
fault of their own. This brought an end to
the individual payments as of 31 December
2006, as provided for in the Foundation Act.
New applications may no longer be filed.
The Foundation’s resources for pay­
ments to forced labourers and other victims
of National Socialism have now been fully
disbursed. More than 1.7 million people,
1.66 million of whom were former forced
labourers, received payment. Of the Foun­
dation’s capital, €4.37 billion was disbursed
for payments to former forced labourers.
Under the Foundation Act, the following
groups of people were eligible:
> Persons who were detained in a con­
centration camp as defined in section 42
subsection (2) of the Federal Compensa­
tion Act or detained under comparable
conditions in some other prison camp
outside the present-day territory of the
Republic of Austria or in a ghetto and
who were subjected to forced labour
(section 11 subsection (1) number 1 of
the Foundation Act).
> Persons who were deported from their
home country to the territory of the
German Reich within its 1937 borders or
to a region occupied by the German
Reich and were subjected to forced
labour in an industrial or commercial
enterprise or in the public sector and
were detained under conditions other
than those named above or were sub­
jected to prison-like conditions or com­
parable exceptionally hard living condi­
tions. This does not apply to persons
who are able to receive payments from
the Austrian reconciliation fund for
forced labour performed mainly in the
present-day territory of the Republic of
Austria (section 11 subsection (1) num­
ber (2) of the Foundation Act).
In addition, the Foundation Act con­
tained an escape clause which allowed the
partner organisations charged with imple­
mentation to provide assistance to other
victims of National Socialist injustice, in
particular to forced labourers in agriculture.
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Development of provisions governing compensation and the consequences of war in Germany
Forced labour as a prisoner of war was
not a cause of entitlement.
The Foundation Act also provided for
payments to compensate for other personal
injury suffered in connection with National
Socialist injustice, first and foremost in the
course of medical experiments or in the
case of death or serious damage to the
health of a child kept in a home for forced
labourers’ children (section 11 subsec­
tion (1), fifth sentence, of the Foundation
Act).
The Foundation Act also allowed for
payments to persons who, in the course of
racial persecution, suffered property dam­
age, as defined in the restitution laws, sig­
nificantly and directly caused by German
companies and who, because they did not
meet the residence requirements under the
Federal Compensation Act, were unable to
receive any payment (section 11 subsec­
tion (1) number 3 of the Foundation Act).
The Foundation Act further envisaged a
separate procedure for compensating other
damage to property in connection with Na­
tional Socialist injustice. The International
Organization for Migration was responsible
for compensating property damage, while
insurance claims arising from racial perse­
cution fell under the jurisdiction of the In­
ternational Commission on Holocaust Era
Insurance Claims. The ceiling for damage to
property was €0.53 billion (DM1.05 billion).
Following the end of the payments, the
Foundation for Remembrance, Responsibil­
ity and the Future now works solely as a
benevolent foundation, as provided in the
Foundation Act. The Foundation’s partner
organisations have completed and con­
cluded their duties in providing compensa­
tion to forced labourers.
1.13 Ghetto Work Recogni­
tion Directive
On 1 October 2007, the German Govern­
ment passed a directive under which vic­
tims of Nazi persecution can receive a pay­
ment of €2,000 for work in a ghetto which
did not constitute forced labour and which
has not been recognised to date under so­
cial insurance law.
The directive thus covers circumstances
for which no compensation could be pro­
vided either under the Act Regarding the
Conditions for Making Pensions Payable on
the basis of Employment in a Ghetto
(Ghetto Pensions Act) or from funds of the
Foundation for Remembrance, Responsibil­
ity and the Future. The directive was en­
acted against the background of the very
high rejection rate of applications made under the Ghetto Pensions Act of 20 June 2002.
The directive made it much easier to meet
the requirements for receiving payment
than it was under the Ghetto Pensions Act.
The Federal Social Court’s new rulings
on the Ghetto Pensions Act of 2 and 3 June
2009 made it necessary to re-evaluate the
situation from the point of view of pensions
law and led to the Ghetto Pensions Act’s eli­
gibility requirements being brought into
line with those of the Ghetto Work Recog­
nition Directive. A large number of the ap­
plications which had been rejected were re­
examined by the German Statutory Pension
Insurance Scheme and approved.
This affected the further implementa­
tion of the directive in the version of 1 Oc­
tober 2007, because the payments made under the directive had to be returned if a
pension under the Ghetto Pensions Act was
granted for identical periods and employ­
More information is available online at ment. For example, repayment had to be
www.bundesfinanzministerium.de or at made even if the pension granted under the
www.stiftung-evz.de.
Ghetto Pensions Act was well below the
€2,000 payment made under the directive.
Such hardship cases had to be avoided.
Compensation for National Socialist injustice
The directive was therefore amended
with retroactive effect and redrafted in
2011. The new version removed the link be­
tween payments under the Ghetto Work
Recognition Directive and the receipt of a
pension under the Ghetto Pensions Act. As
a consequence, the fact that work in a
ghetto has been taken into account under
social security law now no longer precludes
a one-off payment being made in recogni­
tion of ghetto work.
The Federal Office for Central Services
and Unresolved Property Issues, which is
responsible for implementing the directive,
is reviewing the applications already
processed. Final decisions are now being
made on applications that were suspended
because of a pension being paid. There is
thus no need to submit fresh applications.
The following people can apply for and
receive the one-off payment of €2,000 in
recognition of work in a ghetto:
> people who were Victims of National
Socialist persecution within the mean­
ing of section 1 of the Federal Compen­
sation Act,
> forced to live in a ghetto which was
under National Socialist influence and
> employed in the ghetto without coer­
cion during this time.
Those whose work in the ghetto has al­
ready been compensated for as forced
labour from funds from the Foundation for
Remembrance, Responsibility and the Fu­
ture do not qualify for payment.
There is no legal entitlement to the pay­
ment. Only the person entitled to the pay­
ment can apply. Applications must be made
in writing to the Federal Office for Central
Services and Unresolved Property Issues.
Further details can be found on the website
of the Federal Office for Central Services
and Unresolved Property Issues:
(http://www.badv.bund.de/003_menue
_links/f0_ghetto/index.html)
1.14 Washington
Conference on
Holocaust-Era Assets
Despite the material compensation that had
already been granted, the Federal Republic
of Germany again declared its readiness, on
the basis of the principles adopted at the
Washington Conference on Holocaust-Era
Assets on 3 December 1998, to continue its
efforts to clarify the provenance of works of
art confiscated under National Socialism in
so far as the legal and factual possibilities al­
low. Moreover, it pledged to take the steps
necessary to reach an equitable and fair so­
lution when such works of art are identi­
fied.
A number of paintings by well-known
artists have been returned from public
ownership to their legitimate owners or
their heirs in the last twelve years as a result
of the implementation of the Washington
principles, a joint declaration by the Federa­
tion, the Länder and national associations
of municipalities, and the research under­
taken. This requires careful examination of
each individual case, including a check
against material compensation already pro­
vided to ensure that the legitimate owners
are identified and to avoid duplicate com­
pensation.
A manual on the implementation of the
joint declaration and the website of the cen­
tral office for the documentation of lost
cultural property (www.LostArt.de) offer
practical guidance for tracing and identify­
ing works of art confiscated by the National
Socialists and for making decisions on their
possible return. The Federal Office for Cen­
tral Services and Unresolved Property Is­
sues carries out investigations on the prove­
nance of works of art.
Page 13
Page 14
Provisions based on the Federal Compensation Act
II. Provisions based on the
Federal Compensation Act
2.1 Federal Compensation
Act
The Additional Federal Compensation Act
of 18 September 1953 (Federal Law Gazette
I, p. 1387) was the first law to codify com­
pensation for National Socialist injustice at
national level, although it was only in­
tended as temporary legislation. Prior to its
introduction, only the compensation laws
of the individual Länder applied, which
were based on the compensation provisions
in the occupation zones of the Western
powers. The Federal Compensation Act of
29 June 1956 (Federal Law Gazette I, p. 562)
entered into force with retroactive effect
from 1 October 1953. It is a comprehensive
piece of legislation that covers all aspects of
compensation for National Socialist injus­
tice. It is implemented by the compensation
authorities of the Länder (section 184 of the
Federal Compensation Act). Disputes are
settled by the ordinary courts (section 208
of the Federal Compensation Act). The
structure created by the Federal Compensa­
tion Act was also used as a basis for extra­
legal provisions that were subsequently in­
troduced. The purpose of the Act is to com­
pensate those subjected to oppression by
the National Socialist regime.
a. Victims of persecution as defined in
section 1 of the Federal Compensation
Act
Only victims of persecution by the National
Socialist regime are eligible for compensa­
tion. Section 1 of the Federal Compensation
Act defines victims of persecution as those
who suffered damage to life, limb or health,
depreciation of freedom, property or assets
in their business or professional career as a
result of National Socialist oppression (as
defined in section 2 of the Federal Compen­
sation Act) due to their political opposition
to National Socialism or for reasons of race,
religion or ideology. Those who suffered
oppression as a result of being involved in
artistic or academic pursuits of which the
Nazi regime disapproved, or because they
were close to a victim of persecution, are
themselves treated as victims of persecu­
tion. Under the Federal Compensation Act,
surviving dependants and close relatives
who, as such, were adversely affected by
National Socialist oppression are also con­
sidered to be victims of persecution.
When applying the Federal Compensa­
tion Act, it became necessary to define the
reasons for persecution more precisely. For
example, in cases of persecution for reasons
of political opposition, distinctions were
Compensation for National Socialist injustice
made depending on the motivation of the
perpetrators. In cases where individuals
were detained by the National Socialist
state based on their assumed political oppo­
sition, the actual beliefs of the detainees are
no longer relevant. Nationals of countries
which were occupied by Germany were not
considered victims of persecution due to
political opposition to National Socialism
because it was assumed that they were gen­
erally persecuted on the grounds of nation­
ality. Conscientious objectors were likewise
not considered to be victims of persecution
due to political opposition to National So­
cialism.
Victims had to actually have been sub­
jected to persecution within the meaning of
section 2 of the Federal Compensation Act.
For instance, Jewish citizens of what used to
be Palestine and is now Israel were included
in the racial fanaticism of the National So­
cialists, but did not actually suffer oppres­
sion under the National Socialist regime.
c. Types of compensation
The types of compensation provided under
the Federal Compensation Act are pensions,
one-off payments, retraining grants, med­
ical treatment (including compensation for
loss of earnings during treatment) and pen­
sions for surviving dependants. The pen­
sions were calculated as a percentage of the
amount that would be paid to the surviving
dependants of a tenured civil servant of a
similar social and economic position as the
victim (in the case of an accident at work).
d. Territoriality principle
The purpose of the Federal Compensation
Act was to compensate victims of persecu­
tion living in the territory of the former
German Reich. The victims had to be within
the territory of application of the Act. Ex­
pellees within the meaning of the Federal
Expellees Act were included. Stateless per­
sons and refugees within the meaning of
the Geneva Convention were also eligible
b. General War-Induced Losses
for support under the Federal Compensa­
Those who suffered losses as a result of the tion Act (limited to damage to limb or
war that was started by Nazi Germany are health and deprivation of liberty).
not considered to be victims of direct Na­
tional Socialist persecution within the e. Need for extra-legal provisions
meaning of the Federal Compensation Act.
Prisoners of war, expellees, victims of the According to the Final Federal Compensa­
bomb war, victims of retaliatory measures tion Act of 14 September 1965, no applica­
in the partisan war and victims of rape all tions for support under the Federal Com­
suffered terrible fates as a result of Nazi pensation Act could be submitted after
Germany's war of aggression, which was in 31 December 1969. However, it was clear
violation of international law. These groups that despite all the efforts made, not all vic­
of people are considered to have suffered tims of persecution had received compen­
general war-induced losses which are not sation. In consideration of the hardship re­
included in the Federal Compensation Act. sulting from this, the German Government
adopted a number of extra-statutory com­
pensation arrangements through which
victims of National Socialist persecution
can receive financial aid. There is no statu­
tory entitlement to this aid, nor do any time
limits apply to these arrangements.
Page 15
Page 16
Provisions based on the Federal Compensation Act
2.2 Extra-legal provisions
for Jewish victims
(Article 2 Agreement)
In 2012, the German Government revised
the Article 2 Agreement, which is imple­
mented by the JCC, especially in order to al­
low for financial assistance to Jewish vic­
tims of Nazi persecution who have received
no compensation payments to date.
Grants
Jewish victims of National Socialist prose­
cution as defined in section 1 of the Federal
Compensation Act who were directly af­
fected by National Socialist oppression
within the meaning of section 2 of the Fed­
eral Compensation Act, or those who lost
their parents to National Socialist oppres­
sion (child victims of prosecution) and who
have received no compensation payments
from Germany to date can receive a one-off
payment of €2,556.46.
In cases of economic hardship, ongoing
assistance can be provided if the following
conditions are met:
> Imprisonment in a concentration
camp or ghetto as defined in section 42
subsection (2) of the Federal Compensa­
tion Act
> Life in hiding in degrading conditions
or in illegality under a false identity
Generally speaking, the two forms of
compensation are mutually exclusive. How­
ever, one-off payments from German
sources do not preclude the granting of on­
going assistance.
Ongoing assistance is granted for the du­
ration of the economic hardship. Pensions
provided on account of old age, reduced
earning capacity or death and comparable
payments are not taken into account when
calculating income.
There is no statutory entitlement to pay­
ments under the Article 2 Agreement (one­
off or ongoing assistance). They are strictly
tied to the individual person and cannot be
inherited or transferred. They cannot be
paid out to third parties. An exception ap­
plies to surviving spouses or, if the spouse is
also deceased, to surviving children as joint
beneficiaries in cases where the victim dies
after submitting an application but before a
decision is reached. In such cases, the pay­
ment is capped at €2,556.
It is necessary to provide proof of enti­
tlement. Should this not be possible, the en­
titlement can be substantiated in a suitable
and plausible way.
The payments can be refused in full or in
part if the applicant resorted to improper
means or caused, encouraged or allowed the
submission of incorrect or misleading in­
formation, either through wilful intent or
gross negligence. In such cases, payments
may be claimed back in whole or in part.
Applications can be submitted to the of­
fices of the JCC.
Institutions
There is a great need for home nursing and
medical care for the elderly survivors of the
Holocaust, which has increased consider­
ably over the past years. The JCC is there­
fore provided with resources under the
Agreement for use in supporting institu­
tions that help Jewish victims of National
Socialism who require such care.
Compensation for National Socialist injustice Page 17
2.3 Fund for those not of
the Jewish faith who
were persecuted as
Jews under the
National Socialist
regime
A fund for those who are not of the Jewish
faith but who were nonetheless persecuted
as Jews under the National Socialist regime
was established in 1952, immediately after
the Luxembourg Agreement. Payments
from the fund (in the version of 15 Septem­
ber 1966; Federal Gazette No. 178 of 22 Sep­
tember 1966) may be granted to individuals
who were persecuted because of their Jew­
ish origins as defined by the Nuremberg
Laws or who were adversely affected by the
persecution as a near relative. Furthermore,
they must not have belonged, or still be­
long, to the Jewish community, either at the
time of the persecution or of the decision
on their claim for compensation. This is a
necessary delimitation from the responsi­
bility of the JCC for practising Jews. More­
over, potential beneficiaries of the fund in­
clude the spouses of Jewish victims who
themselves did not fall under the Nurem­
berg Laws but who were persecuted due to
the Jewish origins of their spouses or who
were adversely affected by this persecution.
The Federal Ministry of Finance is re­
sponsible for the administration of the
fund. There is no statutory entitlement to
payments from the fund. They are strictly
tied to the individual person and cannot be
inherited or transferred.
Grants
Payments from the fund may be granted ei­
ther in the form of one-off or ongoing assis­
tance. The factors that are taken into con­
sideration include the gravity and impact of
the persecution as well as the financial and
personal circumstances of the applicant and
of any relatives legally obliged to provide
support The level of the ongoing assistance
is determined by guideline figures which
are regularly adjusted to reflect general eco­
nomic developments. One-off assistance is
generally granted to cover the cost of living
or specifically to cover costs incurred by ill­
ness which are not covered by other means
or for the acquisition of household articles
or clothing.
Institutions
Under the directives of the fund for persons
not of the Jewish faith who were persecuted
as Jews, grants can be provided to organisa­
tions responsible for old people's or other
homes if they make a long-term commit­
ment to provide a certain requisite number
of places in the homes to those eligible for
payments.
Individuals can submit applications for
compensation informally to the Federal
Ministry of Finance.
2.4 Compensation for
non-Jewish victims
The German Government made corre­
sponding provisions for non-Jewish victims
in its Directives on Payments to Persecuted
Non-Jews to Compensate for Individual
Hardships within the Context of Restitution
of 26 August 1981 in the version of 7 March
1988, known as the Compensation Disposi­
tion Fund (Federal Gazette No. 55 of
19 March 1988).
Page 18
Provisions based on the Federal Compensation Act
Under these provisions, non-Jewish victims
of persecution who suffered damage to
their health as a result of National Socialist
injustice or who were prosecuted because of
their political opposition to National Social­
ism or on the grounds of race, religion or
ideology (sections 1 and 2 of the Federal
Compensation Act) but were not eligible for
statutory compensation payments for for­
mal reasons could receive one-off payments
of up to €2,556.46 and, in special cases, on­
going assistance.
The following constitute special cases:
> Imprisonment in a concentration
camp as defined by the Federal Com­
pensation Act for at least three months;
individual reviews are possible in the
case of shorter imprisonment.
> Imprisonment in a prison camp or life
in camp-like conditions for at least three
months; individual reviews are possible
in the case of shorter imprisonment.
> Life in hiding in degrading or particu­
larly difficult conditions or in illegality
for at least six months if this led to per­
manent damage to health and a disabil­
ity of at least 50%.
In contrast to the one-off assistance de­
scribed above, assistance from the Compen­
sation Reserve Fund can only be granted to
those with German nationality or to those
who gained it before 1 January 1999 or to
non-German citizens of German origin as
defined by the Federal Expellees Act. There
is no statutory entitlement to the measures
under these provisions. They are strictly
tied to the individual person and cannot be
inherited or transferred.
The Federal Ministry of Finance decides
on claims in accordance with these guide­
lines.
Compensation for National Socialist injustice
III. Legislation for the new Länder
3.1 Compensation Pension
Act
The Act on Compensation for Victims of
National Socialism in the Regions Acceding
to the Federal Republic of 22 April 1992
(Federal Law Gazette I, p. 906) was enacted
in order to regulate compensation for eligi­
ble persons in the new Länder. It entered
into force on 1 May 1992.
Article 1 of this Act contains the Com­
pensation Pension Act, which regulates the
payment of honorary and dependants’ pen­
sions for victims of National Socialism from
the former GDR from the date of its entry
into force.
This legislation was necessary because
the legal basis for honorary pensions paid
out in the former GDR to fighters against
fascism and for the victims of fascism, as
well as their dependants, largely ceased to
exist on 31 December 1991. The Unification
Treaty provided that the legislation of
20 September 1976 which had been valid in
the former GDR for fighters against fascism
and for the victims of fascism, as well as
their dependants, would only remain in
force until 31 December 1991. However, it
was stipulated that the honorary pensions
being provided at that time and the result­
ing payments for dependants were to con­
tinue.
As well as establishing that payment of
the honorary pensions in existence on
30 April 1992 be continued in the form of
compensation pensions of a different
amount, the Compensation Pension Act
also grants a right to submit a new applica­
tion to those victims of National Socialism
who were refused an honorary pension by
the then competent GDR agency on uncon­
stitutional grounds or – following an initial
approval – whose pension was subse­
quently withdrawn . Responsibility for im­
plementing this Act lies with the Federal
Insurance Office.
3.2 Extra-legal regulations
based on the Compen­
sation Pension Act
Likewise as of 1 May 1992, supplementary
German Government directives based on
section 8 of the Compensation Pension Act
(Federal Gazette No. 95 of 21 May 1992,
p. 4185) entered into force for persons who
are victims as defined by section 1 of the
Federal Compensation Act but who are not
entitled to a compensation pension under
this Act and were, or are, unable to receive
payments under other compensation regu­
lations due to their having their place of
Page 19
Page 20
Legislation for the new Länder
residence in the former GDR. Those who
left the former GDR after 30 June 1969 and
were resident in the territory of the Federal
Republic of Germany on 2 October 1990 are
also entitled to submit an application.
Under section 8 of the Compensation
Pension Act, the prerequisite for a pension
under these supplementary directives,
which are implemented by the Federal Min­
istry of Finance, is, among other things, that
the victim:
> was imprisoned for at least six years in
a concentration camp as defined by the
Federal Compensation Act or
> spent at least 12 months in certain
other National Socialist prisons or
> suffered at least 12 months of another
form of deprivation of freedom of a cer­
tain degree of severity.
In exceptional cases, other forms of
harm, comparable in terms of gravity and
impact to the aforementioned circum­
stances, can be taken into consideration.
In addition, female applicants must have
reached the age of 55 and male applicants
the age of 60, or the applicant must be an
invalid as defined by Article 2( 7) (3) of the
Pension Law Conversion Act of 25 July 1991
(Federal Law Gazette I, p. 1606) before a
pension can be granted.
Should a victim of persecution who ful­
fils the directive prerequisites be deceased,
his/her widow or widower will, if he/she is
incapable of working, receive a pension in
accordance with section 2 subsection (6) of
the Compensation Pension Act.
This provision reads as follows:
“A compensation pension is granted to
widows and widowers if the marriage was
contracted before 1 January 1951. This also
applies if marriage was not possible before
1 January 1951 due to the absence of official
documents or on other important grounds or
if a quasi-marital relationship existed and the
marriage took place after this date. In the
case of return from emigration or release
from internment, imprisonment or prisoner­
of-war status after 31 December 1945, the
deadline shall be five years after the return or
release rather than 1 January 1951.”
The pension amounts to €715.80
(DM1,400) per month for victims and €410
(DM800) per month for their widows and
widowers.
Any payments which the eligible person
has received, or is still receiving, under German Government or Länder provisions not
connected with the Federal Compensation
Act are deducted from the pension.
As with compensation pensions under
the Compensation Pension Act, payments
under the directives are to be refused or re­
voked, either in part or in full, if the eligible
person or the person from whom the eligi­
bility is derived has violated the principles
of humanity or the rule of law or has seri­
ously abused his/her position to his/her
own gain or to the disadvantage of others.
Applications for a compensation pen­
sion may be submitted to the Federal Min­
istry of Finance.
Compensation for National Socialist injustice
3.3 Property law
regulations in the
territory of the former
GDR
The Act Regulating Open Property Matters
entered into force together with the Unifi­
cation Treaty on 29 September 1990. Ac­
cording to section 1 subsection (6), it is to be
applied to claims by citizens and associa­
tions that were persecuted between 30 Jan­
uary 1933 and 8 May 1945 on racial, politi­
cal, religious or ideological grounds and lost
their property as a result. The Act thus ties
in with legislation concerning the return of
property. The claims had to be submitted by
the end of 1992 (for real estate) or by the
end of June 1993 (for movable property).
The Act stipulates that the JCC is the legal
successor to any heirless or unclaimed Jew­
ish lost property. The value of property re­
turned to the victims of National Socialism
under this Act can only be partially quanti­
fied. According to the JCC, more than €724
million had been generated from the sale of
restored property by the end of 2001.
If it is not possible to return property or
if the persons concerned have exercised
their right to choose compensation instead,
they receive compensation under the Vic­
tims of Nazi Persecution Compensation Act.
The payments come from the Compensa­
tion Fund, a special federal fund. The
amount is determined on the basis of legis­
lation governing restitution and has been
doubled in the light of the time that has
passed. A total of €1.83 billion in compensa­
tion payments had been made by the end of
2011.
To speed up the process of getting com­
pensation to the victims, comprehensive
settlements were reached, starting in 2002,
between the Compensation Fund and the
JCC in cases of a similar nature in which the
JCC is the eligible party. The settlements
reached were in respect of damage to syna­
gogues and their contents (settlement in
2002), damage to movable property and
household effects (2004), damage to the
property of self-employed persons (2006), as
well as losses suffered with respect to secu­
rity rights over land and bank account bal­
ances (2007), assets of organisations (2009),
the clothing industry (2011/12) and securi­
ties (2012).
Until 1976, US citizens could submit
claims for loss of assets in the former GDR
to a commission set up by the US Adminis­
tration. The subsequent talks conducted
with the GDR on compensation did not
produce any results. After reunification, the
negotiations were continued with the German Government and concluded with the
Agreement of 13 May 1992 between the
Federal Republic of Germany and the Gov­
ernment of the United States of America
Concerning the Settlement of Certain Prop­
erty Claims. This Agreement made it possi­
ble for US citizens to either accept compen­
sation in the United States under this
Agreement or to take part in the above­
mentioned German property law proceed­
ings in Germany. The German Government
transferred a total of approximately US$102
million for compensation in the United
States. It is not known what proportion has
been paid out to victims of National Social­
ism. The group of eligible persons includes
about 1,000 Jewish claimants who gained
US citizenship after their property had been
damaged but before the end of 1951.
Page 21
Page 22
Compensation under the General Act Regulating Compensation for War-Induced Losses
IV. Compensation under the General Act
Regulating Compensation for WarInduced Losses
4.1 General Act Regulating
Compensation for
War-Induced Losses of
5 November 1957
Section 5 of the General Act Regulating
Compensation for War-Induced Losses of
5 November 1957 (Federal Law Gazette I,
p. 1747), most recently amended by Article
2 (16) of the Act of 12 August 2005 (Federal
Law Gazette I, p. 2354), governs the claims
of those who suffered damage during the
National Socialist regime and did not qual­
ify as victims as defined by sections 1 and 2
of the Federal Compensation Act. While the
compensation laws regulate all property
and non-property claims, the Act only pro­
vides for compensation for damage to life,
limb, or health, as well as deprivation of
freedom. Section 5 of the Act grants a right
to compensation for unlawful violations of
these objects of legal protection in accor­
dance with the general legal provisions, in
particular in accordance with the provisions
on state liability and in accordance with the
civil law regulations on unlawful acts (sec­
tion 823 ff of the Civil Code).
Claims under section 5 of the Act are
only recognised if on 31 December 1952 the
persons who suffered damage had their
domicile or were permanently resident in
the then area of application of the Act or in
a state which had recognised the Govern­
ment of the Federal Republic of Germany
by 1 April 1956 (section 6 subsection (1) of
the Act) or fulfilled one of the other resi­
dence or deadline requirements referred to
in section 6. Exceptions for expellees (immi­
grants of ethnic German origin), returnees
or persons who did not settle in territory of
the Federal Republic of Germany until after
31 December 1952 by way of family reunifi­
cation play virtually no role today.
The above-mentioned claims had, in
principle, to be submitted within one year
after the Act entered into force, i.e., by
31 December 1958 (section 28 of the Act). If
the submission deadline had passed, an ex­
tension could be granted for one more year,
i.e., until 31 December 1959.
Claims under section 5 are now, in prac­
tice, only being wound up. New submis­
sions are only possible in a few exceptions,
namely where claims arose after the Act en­
tered into force. In such cases, the one-year
submission deadline begins with the emer­
gence of the claim. This can, for example,
apply to damage to health which arose or
Compensation for National Socialist injustice
became much worse at a later point in time.
The same applies to damage suffered in re­
lation to state old-age pensions due to an
inability to pay contributions as a result of
unlawful deprivation of freedom, which
does not become apparent until the person
concerned retires.
As of 1 August 2008, the Federal Finance
Office (West)is responsible for processing
claims under section 5 of the Act.
4.2 Government directives
on hardship compensa­
tion to victims of
National Socialist
injustice under the
General Act Regulating
Compensation for
War-Induced Losses
a. Scope
According to the German Government di­
rectives on hardship compensation to vic­
tims of National Socialist injustice under
the General Act Regulating Compensation
for War-Induced Losses, which were issued
on 7 March 1988 and revised on 28 March
2011 (Federal Gazette of 1 April 2011,
p. 1229), compensation is to be made to per­
sons who are not victims of persecution
within the meaning of section 1 of the Fed­
eral Compensation Act, but who, due to
their physical or mental constitution or to
their personal or social behaviour, were ei­
ther individually or collectively targeted by
the National Socialist regime, and as a result
suffered injustice. These payments are in­
tended to mitigate hardship for which the
General Act Regulating Compensation for
War-Induced Losses does not provide any
compensation due to individuals having
missed the respective deadlines or for other
reasons.
In accordance with the German Govern­
ment directives on hardship compensation
to victims of National Socialist injustice under the General Act Regulating Compensa­
tion for War-Induced Losses, one-off pay­
ments of up to €2,556.46 may be granted.
The directives also allow ongoing compen­
sation payments to be made in exceptional
cases where more assistance is required due
to special circumstances.
The directives on hardship compensa­
tion do not aim to provide any financial
compensation for war damage, exclusive
damage to property or possessions, or pre­
war or war-induced hardship of any kind.
b. Eligibility
According to the above-mentioned direc­
tives, anyone who suffered damage or harm
as a result of National Socialist injustice and
who is not a victim of persecution within
the meaning of the Federal Compensation
Act may submit an application for compen­
sation.
Various groups of individuals who suf­
fered damage or harm resulting from acts
that are contrary to the rule of law and that
were performed by persons acting in the
name of the German Reich are entitled to
submit applications. These groups would
predominantly include the victims of steril­
isation and the euthanasia programme.
Compensation can also be provided to
individuals who were identified by the Na­
tional Socialist state or party as “work-shy”,
“refusing to work”, “asocial”, “homosexual”,
“inciting disobedience”, “conscientious ob­
jector”, “criminal” and “vagrant” and who
for this reason suffered National Socialist
oppression, for example, being detained in
concentration camps or at similar establish­
ments. Victims of psychiatric persecution
Page 23
Page 24
Compensation under the General Act Regulating Compensation for War-Induced Losses
may also apply. Depending on the individ­
ual circumstances of a specific case, the di­
rectives on hardship compensation may
also permit compensation payments to be
made to individuals who were part of the
‘youth resistance’ movement. The following
provides more specific information on
some of these groups and the damages that
were suffered:
Victims of forced sterilisation
children of those victims of National Social­
ist injustice who died in euthanasia estab­
lishments may also be entitled to receive
the one-off payments.
Homosexuals
On the basis of the circular issued by the
Reich Main Security Office on 12 July 1940,
a great many homosexuals were sent to
concentration camps either without having
been convicted of any offence or after hav­
ing served a sentence. Compensation can be
made for damages that were suffered as a
result of such actions, in particular if the re­
spective individual was sent to a concentra­
tion camp.
Victims of forced sterilisation who do not
fulfil the requirements for compensation
payments under the Federal Compensation
Act receive, upon application, a one-off
payment amounting to €2,556.46 on the ba­
sis of the directives on hardship compensa­
tion, as well as ongoing monthly payments Criminals
of €291 (as of 1 January 2011, previously
€120).
According to the circulars of the Reich and
In exceptional cases, additional ongoing Prussian Minister of the Interior of 14 De­
payments may also be granted.
cember 1937, the criminal police were au­
thorised, in certain instances, to take so­
Euthanasia programme victims called professional and habitual criminals
into preventive custody (cf. Buchheim, Die
The so-called euthanasia establishments are Aktion “Arbeitsscheu Reich”, Gutachten des
considered to be prison camps within the Instituts für Zeitgeschichte, Vol. II, Stuttgart
meaning of the directives because the hu­ [1966], p. 189 ff). Insofar as alleged criminals
man dignity of the patients was invariably were taken into custody and no criminal
violated in these establishments and the pa­ proceedings were initiated, or insofar as
tients' physical and psychological well­ convicted criminals were incarcerated for a
being was constantly threatened. The estab­ longer period of time than that to which
lishments at Grafeneck in Württemberg, they were sentenced in criminal proceed­
Hartheim near Linz, Sonnenschein near ings, such individuals may also qualify for
Pirna, Bernburg an der Saale, Hadamar near payments.
Limburg, and Brandenburg an der Havel fall
within this category. Upon application, the Individuals who were identified
victims directly subjected to these euthana­
sia establishments receive one-off pay­ as “work-shy“, “refusing to
ments of €2,556.46 and, since 1 January
2011, ongoing monthly payments of €291. work“, “vagrants“ or “asocial“
In exceptional cases, additional ongoing
payments may also be granted.
The National Socialist regime also took so­
In certain exceptional cases – in particu­ called preventive measures against this
lar if they have not received any support group of individuals. This was done to en­
payments – the dependent spouses and sure that these individuals entered regular
Compensation for National Socialist injustice
employment, and to ease the tense situation
on the labour market. The legal basis con­
sisted of, among other things, the previ­
ously mentioned circulars of the Reich and
Prussian Minister of the Interior of 14 De­
cember 1937, as well as instructions of the
Reich Minister of the Interior of 18 Septem­
ber 1939 (Buchheim, loc. cit., Vol. II, p. 189
ff). Individuals who were affected by such
measures are also eligible to apply for com­
pensation.
Victims of the National Social­
ist judiciary
The directives also provide for compensa­
tion in cases where a court-imposed sen­
tence was served, if an examination of the
individual case reveals that either the judg­
ment or its execution was contrary to the
rule of law.
For example, a judgment may be
deemed contrary to the rule of law if the
punishment is considered to be unusually
hard and cruel in comparison to the alleged
criminal act. Decisions on such matters are
based on the respective range of punish­
ment as set out in the Reich Penal Code that
was in force prior to 30 January 1933. For
military offences, decisions are based on the
respective range of punishment as set out in
the Military Penal Code of 15 June 1926. As
a rule, the authoritative judgment shall be
either the one that was pronounced in the
last instance or the subsequent decision of a
court to pardon the individual.
If a judgment was reversed or could have
been reversed in accordance with Bavarian
Act No. 21 on the Compensation of Victims
of National Socialist Jurisdiction of 28 May
1945 (Bavarian Official Gazette No. 11/1946,
p. 180), in accordance with another relevant
Land law, or in accordance with the Act to
Reverse Unjust National Socialist Judicial
Rulings of 25 May 1990 (Federal Law
Gazette I, p. 966), the prerequisites for an act
of National Socialist injustice are fulfilled –
provided the offence in question would not
have been a criminal offence before 30 Jan­
uary 1933. The same applies to the Act to
Reverse Unjust National Socialist Judicial
Rulings in Criminal Cases.
In instances where death sentences were
pronounced between 30 January 1933 and
8 May 1945 for military offences, and if
these sentences were not reversed prior to
8 May 1945, there is prima facie evidence to
suspect that an unjust punishment was pro­
nounced (cf. Federal Social Court, Neue Ju­
ristische Wochenschrift 1992, p. 934). In in­
stances where individuals were sentenced
to prison terms for violating the ban on lis­
tening to enemy broadcasts, or for consort­
ing with prisoners of war and other foreign­
ers, the prerequisites are generally fulfilled
for receiving compensation based on the di­
rectives on hardship compensation under
the General Act Regulating Compensation
for War-Induced Losses.
Accordingly, payments under the Gen­
eral Act Regulating Compensation for WarInduced Losses are also made to persons
who were imprisoned between 1933 and
1945 provided that the imprisonment is
based on a penal decision that was reversed
in the Act to Reverse Unjust National So­
cialist Judicial Rulings of 25 August 1998
(Federal Law Gazette I, p. 2501), amended by
the Act of 23 July 2002 (Federal Law Gazette
I, p. 2714).
As a rule, no compensation can be made
if, after 8 May 1945, either a German or an
Allied court ruled that a sentence served as
a result of a judgment passed from 30 Janu­
ary 1933 to 8 May 1945 was legitimate.
National Socialist injustice may also
have occurred as a result of the way in
which a sentence was served. An example of
this is detention at concentration camps.
Convicted members of the Wehrmacht
may qualify for payments under the Federal
War Victims’ Relief Act; as a rule, such
claims are to be examined by the respective
Länder pension authorities.
Page 25
Page 26
Compensation under the General Act Regulating Compensation for War-Induced Losses
c. Further requirements for eligibility
d. Compensation payments
An application must be submitted in order
to receive a one-off payment on the basis of
the directives under the General Act Regu­
lating Compensation for War-Induced
Losses. Payments may only be made to indi­
viduals who are German citizens; those who
do not hold German citizenship or only ac­
quired German citizenship after 8 May 1945
must be of German ethnic origin under the
definition of sections 1 and 6 of the Federal
Expellees Act. The applicant must either be
domiciled, or have his or her permanent
place of residence, in the Federal Republic
of Germany at the time he or she submits an
application for compensation.
Assistance is granted on an individual
basis and is therefore non-transferable.
Heirs of victims are not eligible to claim
compensation. In exceptional cases, one-off
payments may also be granted to surviving
spouses if they were significantly affected
by the injustice perpetrated against their
spouse or its consequences.
Children whose parents were both killed
due to a National Socialist oppressive mea­
sure may receive a one-off payment of
€2,556.46 provided that at the time of the
parents' death they had not yet reached the
age of twenty-one or were entitled to main­
tenance because they were still undergoing
education and had not reached the age of
twenty-seven.
All assistance that is granted under the
directives on hardship compensation is pro­
vided as compensation to affected individu­
als for the injustice they suffered. It is there­
fore not intended to reduce in any way ben­
efits that affected individuals are legally au­
thorised to receive.
A distinction must be drawn between one­
off payments (up to €2,556.46), ongoing
monthly payments (€291) and additional
ongoing payments (in individual cases).
Persons who suffered substantial dam­
age to their body or health, victims of
forced sterilisation and victims of the eu­
thanasia programme receive one-off pay­
ments of €2,556.46. Persons who suffered
deprivation of liberty receive a one-off pay­
ment of €76.69 for each month of imprison­
ment or part thereof; the maximum total
amount being €2,556.46.
Victims of forced sterilisation and those
directly affected by euthanasia measures re­
ceive ongoing monthly payments of €291
in addition to the one-off payments (this
applies since 1 January 2011).
In certain exceptional cases, in which
special circumstances require that further
assistance be provided and in which the vic­
tims are currently in financial need, addi­
tional ongoing assistance may be granted.
In this context, the type and severity of the
injustice that was suffered, as well as the
severity and duration of the effects of the
injustice, are to be taken into special consid­
eration. Exceptional circumstances are as­
sumed in particular in the following in­
stances:
> Nine months or more of detention in a
concentration camp as defined in sec­
tion 42 subsection (2) of the Federal
Compensation Act
> Eighteen months or more of depriva­
tion of freedom in another type of
prison or in a euthanasia establishment
> Thirty months or more of living in
hiding in degrading or particularly se­
vere conditions; or
Compensation for National Socialist injustice
> Forced sterilisation under the National
Socialist regime
Notwithstanding the above conditions,
compensation payments may be granted in
exceptional cases where more assistance is
required due to exceptional circumstances.
Prior to the amendment of the directives
on hardship compensation in autumn 2002,
it was generally required that anyone sub­
mitting an application must currently be in
a state of need. The details defining a state
of need were set out in accordance with the
implementing regulations to the Federal
Compensation Act. Since the amendment,
one-off assistance payments may be
granted even if the family’s income exceeds
the level stipulated for a state of need. The
same applies to the ongoing payments to
victims of forced sterilisation and those af­
fected directly by euthanasia measures. In
the case of additional ongoing payments,
however, the state of need requirement
continues to apply.
Applications that were rejected for not
meeting the state of need requirement were
automatically re-examined, and compensa­
tion was granted to all applicants who qual­
ified.
e. Processing of applications by the
Federal Finance Office (West)
4.3 Payments to victims of
the National Socialist
military judiciary
The Instructions for the Final Settlement of
the Rehabilitation and Compensation of In­
dividuals Convicted During the Second
World War for “Inciting Disobedience”,
“Conscientious Objection” or “Desertion” of
17 December 1997 (Federal Gazette No. 2 of
6 January 1998), most recently amended on
30 December 1998 (Federal Gazette No. 8 of
14 January 1999), provides that individuals
who were convicted of the above-men­
tioned offences during the Second World
War are eligible to receive an additional
one-off payment of €3,834.68. This entitle­
ment is based on a decision of the German
Bundestag of 15 May 1997 in which it was
determined that, in the above-mentioned
cases, the judgments passed by the
Wehrmacht judiciary during the Second
World War were unjust if rule-of-law prin­
ciples are applied. The Bundestag therefore
called upon the German Government to
make an additional one-off payment of
€3,834.68 (DM7,500) to the victims of the
Wehrmacht judiciary or to their relatives.
Compensation has been granted in more
than 500 of the above-mentioned cases.
The deadline for submitting an applica­
tion passed on 31 December 1999.
The directives on hardship compensation
under the General Act Regulating Compen­
sation for War-Induced Losses are imple­
mented centrally by the Federal Finance Of­
fice (West). There is no deadline for applica­ Federal Finance Office (West) can provide
tions.
information on all questions relating to
compensation for National Socialist injus­
tice.
4.4 Further information
Page 27
Page 28
annex
Annexes
Annex 1
Public-sector compensation payments
Annex 2
Compensation paid by the Länder outside of the Federal
Compensation Act
Annex 3
Payments made under the Federal Compensation Act
Annex 4
Hardship compensation to victims of National Socialist injustice
under the General Act Regulating Compensation for War-Induced
Losses
Annex 5
Comprehensive agreements on compensation
Annex 6
German Government directive concerning the payment of amounts
to victims of persecution in recognition of work in a ghetto which
did not constitute forced labour and which has not yet been
recognised under social insurance law (Ghetto Work Recognition
Directive)
Compensation for National Socialist injustice
Annex 1:
Public-sector compensation payments
Last updated on 31 December 2011
Payments in billions of euros
until 2010 in 2011 until 2011
Payments made so far
1. Federal Compensation Act
46.417
0.309
46.726
2. Federal Restitution Act
2.023
0.000
2.023
3. Compensation Pension Act
0.802
0.011
0.813
4. Victims of Nazi Persecution Compensation Act
5. Luxembourg Agreement
1.825
0.103
1.928
1.764
0.000
1.764
6. Comprehensive agreements (and similar agreements)
1.460
0.029*
1.460
7. Other payments
This breaks down into:
5.351
0.160
5.511
0.150
0.010
• Civil service
• Wapniarka, Hardship Fund for Non-Jewish Victims of National
Socialism
Victims of pseudo-medical experiments, Art. VI Final Federal
Compensation Act, etc.
8. Payments made by the Länder outside of the Federal
Compensation Act
9. Hardship compensation (not including the Länder)
10. Foundation for Remembrance, Responsibility and
the Future
Total:
1.721
0.038
1.759
4.160
0.310
4.470
2.556
0.000
2.556
68.079
0.960
69.039
*Adjustment for preceding years
The German Government has expressed its intention to make lifelong ongoing payments to victims of National Socialism
whose claims have been approved.
Page 29
Page 30
Annex
Approximately 17% of payments made under the Federal Compensation Act and the
Federal Restitution Act are disbursed to individuals who live in Germany, and approximately 40% to individuals who live in Israel; the remaining proportion is disbursed
to individuals who live elsewhere. Approximately 15% of ongoing payments made under the Federal Compensation Act are disbursed to individuals who live in Germany;
approximately 85% of ongoing payments
are disbursed to individuals who live
abroad.
During the period from 1 October 1953
to 31 December 1987, 4,384,138 applications
were submitted for compensation under
the Additional Federal Compensation Act of
18 September 1953 (Federal Law Gazette I, p.
1387), the Federal Compensation Act of
29 June 1956 (Federal Law Gazette I, p. 559)
and the Final Federal Compensation Act of
14 September 1965 (Federal Law Gazette I,
p. 1315). These applications were processed
as follows:
of applications processed, from 1 January
1988 to date is small and continues to decline; the Länder are therefore no longer
keeping a statistical record of this figure.
Except in a negligible number of cases,
compensation under the Federal Restitution Act has been completed.
The above table does not include other
payments – the individual amounts of
¬which cannot be exactly determined –
totalling several billion euros that were
made under other directives, e.g., the Act on
Social Insurance Pensions for Victims of
National Socialism, the Federal Act on
Compensation for National Socialist Injustice through War Disablement and Survivors’ Pensions and the General Act Regulating Compensation for War-Induced
Losses.
The Foundation for Remembrance, Responsibility and the Future has not made
any ongoing compensation payments; it has
only made one-off payments. The Foundation received funding totalling €5.1 billion.
Approved
2,014,142
Denied
1,246,571
Otherwise processed (e.g., application
withdrawn)
1,123,425
There is no statistical record of the total
number of applicants. This number is, however, not identical to the number of applications submitted. According to information
provided by the Länder – who are responsible for implementing the Federal Compensation Act – on average, every applicant
submitted more than one application. Nor
is it possible to determine the total number
of claims submitted, or the number of
claims submitted by each individual
applicant. The number of applications, and
Of this, the German Government provided
the €2.556 billion recorded in the table
above. The remainder came from German
companies that participated in the German
Business Foundation Initiative. By the time
the last payments were made in 2007, the
Foundation, which was set up to help forced
labourers and other victims of National Socialism, had disbursed a total of more than
€4.7 billion to around 1.7 million eligible
victims of National Socialism, in particular
forced labourers.
Compensation for National Socialist injustice
Annex 2: Compensation paid by the Länder outside of the Federal
Compensation Act 1950 to 2011
(figures provided by the Länder)
Länder
in 2011
– in thousands of euros –
up to the end of 2011
– in millions of euros –
6
37
Bavaria
10,114
163
Berlin
16,807
720
73
12
242
75
Hesse
2,456
64
Lower Saxony
2,038
97
942
504
5,488
60
Saarland
44
1
Schleswig-Holstein
52
25
Baden-Württemberg
Bremen
Hamburg
North Rhine-Westphalia
Rhineland-Palatinate
TOTAL:
Note: all figures have been rounded
38,262
approx. 1,759
Page 31
Damage to business
Granting of immediate assistance
Provision of health care
Mitigation of hardship
8.
9.
10.
11.
€614 million
under Article V of the Final Federal Compensation Act
under the Federal Compensation Act (cf. column 5
above)
€46,726 million
€45,735 million
€377 million
5,136
35
6
45
23
42
90
397
37
6,774
270
1,635
1,320
95
219
136
1,352
2
1
339
2,125
1,442
216
275
155
1,656
To individuals
residing
abroad
Total
Of column 1
One-off payments
before 30 September 1953
Total amount disbursed in compensation payments:
(Note: any divergence of total amounts results from
rounding to the nearest million)
Total:
Loss of life
Damage to limb or health
Deprivation of liberty
Damage to property
Damage to assets
Charges, fines, etc.
Damage to professional careers
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Type of damage or harm suffered
Type of compensation made
(figures provided by the Länder)
38,961
49
0
0
399
3,777
26,302
0
0
0
0
8,434
3
Total
4
33,286
24
0
0
329
2,745
23,320
0
0
0
0
6,868
To individuals
residing
abroad
Of column 3
Ongoing payments
6
38,422
59
6
45
352
3,015
24,955
1,320
95
219
136
8,220
Ongoing payments
7
39,891
24
0
0
428
1,238
36,636
0
0
0
0
1,565
8
23,542
1
0
0
104
1,037
21,720
0
0
0
0
680
in thousands of
euros
Monthly total
on 1 December 2011
Number
for loss of life, damage to limb or health:
approx. €838
of all ongoing compensation payments:
approx. €590
Average ongoing monthly payment:
45,735
91
90
397
436
4,116
28,427
1,442
216
275
155
10,090
columns 2 + 4
columns 1 + 3
5
To individuals
residing abroad
Total payments
Total
Annex 3: Payments made under the Federal Compensation Act
between 1 October 1953 and 31 December 2011 € million
Page 32
Annex
Compensation for National Socialist injustice
Annex 4 (1):
Page 33
Hardship compensation to victims of National Socialist
injustice under the General Act Regulating Compensation
for War-Induced Losses
Last updated on 31 December 2011
One-off payments
Compensation
approved
Total no. of applications
broken down into
the following groups:
Forced sterilisation
7,966
1
total
Compensation denied,
or case referred
total
6,266
2
2,467
3
291
2
4,668
“Euthanasia”
497
5,011
Forced labour
140
334
220
“Inciting disobedience”
304
3
158
46
87
148
26
23
288
174
140
Homosexual
20
8
10
Conscientious objectors
59
9
32
“Psychiatric patients”
39
17
13
9
1
9
“Refusing to work”
29
17
9
“Work-shy”
33
30
13
“Vagrants”
4
1
2
548
1,399
“Criminals”
“Asocial”
Members of a youth organisation
not part of, or cannot be clearly assigned
to, one of the above groups
1,830
1. In addition to this figure, some 9,470 applications for compensation by victims of forced sterilisation were received
between 1980 and 1988.
2. This figure also includes cases in which compensation was approved for applications received before 1988.
3. Before 1988, payments were also made in 8,805 cases to victims of forced sterilisation.
Page 34
Annex
Annex 4 (2):
Hardship compensation to victims of National
Socialist injustice under the General Act
Regulating Compensation for War-Induced Losses
Last updated on 31 December 2011
Ongoing payments under section 6
Compensation
approved
Total no. of applications
Compensation denied,
or case referred
d
3,855
total
total
2,140
1,129
3,142
1,927
782
Forced labour
21
0
8
“Euthanasia”
58
21
25
“Inciting disobedience”
28
5
12
Conscientious objectors
2
0
2
“Criminals”
1
1
0
Homosexual
5
2
3
Members of a youth organisation 1
0
1
“Asocial”
3
0
2
“Psychiatric patients”
0
0
1
“Refusing to work”
0
0
1
not part of, or cannot be clearly
assigned to,
one of the above groups
594
184
292
broken down into
the following groups:
Forced sterilisation
Compensation for National Socialist injustice
Annex 4 (3):
Hardship compensation to victims of National
Socialist injustice under the General Act
Regulating Compensation for War-Induced Losses
Last updated on 31 December 2011
Ongoing €291 assistance payments in accordance with section 5 of the directives on
hardship compensation under the General Act Regulating Compensation for War-Induced
Losses
(increased from €120 to €291 starting on 1 January 2011)
Total no. of applications
11,243
No. of applications processed
9,876
Of these, approved
9,607
Of these, denied
269
Payments made so far
In accordance with the directives on hardship compensation under the General Act
Regulating Compensation for War-Induced Losses and the previous Federal Ministry of
Finance instructions on the granting of a one-off payment to victims of forced sterilisation,
the following amount was disbursed between 1980 and 2011:
€127,471,040.57
This breaks down into:
One-off payments
€14,433,578.35
Ongoing payments
€55,848,382.24
Additional ongoing assistance under
Section 6 subsection (4) of the directives under
the General Act Regulating Compensation
for War-Induced Losses
€57,189,079.98
Page 35
Page 36
Annex
Annex 5: Comprehensive agreements on compensation
Country
Luxembourg
Date agreement was
concluded
Published in
Federal Law
Gazette II
Compensation in
millions of DM
11 July 1959
1960, p. 2077
18
Norway
7 August 1959
1960, p. 1336
60
Denmark
24 August 1959
1960, p. 1333
16
18 March 1960
1961, p. 1596
115
Greece
Netherlands
8 April 1960
1963, p. 629
125
France
15 July 1960
1961, p. 1029
400
28 September 1960
1961, p. 1037
80
2 June 1961
1963, p. 791
40
29 June 1961
1963, p. 155
10
27 November 1961
1962, p. 1041
95
9 June 1964
1964, p. 1032
11
3 August 1964
1964, p. 1402
1
Belgium
Italy
Switzerland
Austria
United Kingdom
Sweden
971
Compensation for National Socialist injustice
Annex 6: German Government directive concerning the payment of
amounts to victims of persecution in recognition of work
in a ghetto which did not constitute forced labour and
which has not yet been recognised under social insurance
law (Ghetto Work Recognition Directive)
Statistics on applications received and processed
Last updated on 31 December 2011
Applications received
62,133
Approved
32,616
In total, approx. €65 million have been disbursed to date.
Applications received under the Ghetto Work Recognition Directive
by country
Last updated on 31 December 2011
Netherlands
2%
Germany
2%
Canada
4%
Serbia
5%
Hungary
7%
USA
23%
Ukraine
2%
Other
7%
Israel
48%
Page 37
Page 38
Annex
Addresses
I.
Federal Office for Central Services and Unresolved Property Issues
(Bundesamt für zentrale Dienste und offene Vermögensfragen)
DGZ-Ring 12
13086 Berlin, Germany
Or: 53221 Bonn, Germany
http://www.badv.bund.de/
II.
Federal Finance Office West (Bundesfinanzdirektion West)
Woerthstrasse 1 - 3
50668 Cologne, Germany
Tel. +49(0) 221/37993-0
Zentrale Auskunftsstelle zur Wiedergutmachung
nationalsozialistischen Unrechts
Woerthstrasse 1 - 3
50668 Cologne, Germany
Tel. +49(0) 221/37993-413
Street address:
Neusser Strasse 159
50733 Cologne, Germany
http://www1.zoll.de/english_version/index.html
III.
Federal Ministry of Finance (Bundesministerium der Finanzen)
- Bonn office: ­
Postfach 13 08
53003 Bonn, Germany
http://www.bundesfinanzministerium.de
Compensation for National Socialist injustice
IV.
Federal Insurance Office (Bundesversicherungsamt) Geschäftsstelle der Kommission
zum Versorgungsruhens- und Entschädigungsrentengesetz
Referat I 6
Friedrich-Ebert-Allee 38
53113 Bonn, Germany
http://www.bundesversicherungsamt.de
V.
Claims Conference Härtefonds / Hardship Fund - Art. 2-Fonds / Art. 2 Fund
Europe:
Israel:
Sophienstrasse 44
60487 Frankfurt am Main
Germany
Ha’arbaa Street 8, 1st Floor
64739 Tel Aviv
Israel
Other:
1359 Broadway
Room 2000
New York, NY 100 18
USA
http://www.claimscon.de/
VI.
Coordination Office of the Länder for the Return of Cultural Treasures
(Koordinierungsstelle für Kulturgutverluste)
Turmschanzenstraße 32
39114 Magdeburg, Germany
www.LostArt.de
VII.
Foundation for Remembrance, Responsibility and the Future
Lindenstraße 20 – 25
10969 Berlin, Germany
Tel.: +49 (0)30 -259297-0
Fax: +49 (0)30 -259297-11
http://www.stiftung-evz.de, E-mail: i [email protected]
Page 39
Page 40
Annex
List of laws mentioned (English – German)
Act on Compensation for Victims of National
Socialism in the Regions Acceding to the Federal
Republic
Gesetz über Entschädigungen für Opfer des
Nationalsozialismus im Beitrittsgebiet (NSOEBGG)
Act on Social Insurance Pensions for Victims of
National Socialism
Gesetz über die Behandlung der Verfolgten des
Nationalsozialismus in der Sozialversicherung
Act on the Creation of a Foundation for
Remembrance, Responsibility and the Future
(Foundation Act)
Gesetz zur Errichtung einer Stiftung „Erinnerung,
Verantwortung und Zukunft“ (EVZStiftG)
Act on the Treatment of Victims of National Socialist
Persecution in the Area of Social Security
Gesetz zur Wiedergutmachung nationalsozialistischen
Unrechts (USEG)
Act Regulating Open Property Matters
Gesetz zur Regelung offener Vermögensfragen
(VermG)
Act to Reverse Unjust National Socialist Judicial
Rulings in Criminal Cases
Gesetz zur Aufhebung nationalsozialistischer
Unrechtsurteile in der Strafrechtspflege NSAufhebungsgesetz (NS-AufhG)
Additional Federal Compensation Act
Bundesergänzungsgesetz zur Entschädigung für
Opfer der nationalsozialistischen Verfolgung (BErgG)
Basic Law
Grundgesetz (GG)
Bavarian Act No. 21 on the Compensation of Victims
of National Socialist Jurisdiction
Bayerisches Gesetz Nr. 21 zur Wiedergutmachung
nationalsozialistischen Unrechts in der
Strafrechtspflege vom 28. Mai 1945
Compensation and Corrective Payments Act
Gesetz über die Entschädigung nach dem Gesetz zur
Regelung offener Vermögensfragen und über
staatliche Ausgleichsleistungen für Enteignungen auf
besatzungsrechtlicher oder besatzungshoheitlicher
Grundlage (EALG)
Compensation Pension Act
Entschädigungsrentengesetz (ERG)
Federal Act for the Settlement of the Monetary
Restitution Liabilities of the German Reich and Legal
Entities of Equal Legal Status (Federal Restitution
Act)
Bundesgesetz zur Regelung der
rückerstattungsrechtlichen Geldverbindlichkeiten des
Deutschen Reiches und gleichgestellter Rechtsträger
(BRüG)
Federal Act on Compensation for National Socialist
Injustice through War Disablement and Survivors’
Pensions
Bundesgesetz zur Wiedergutmachung
nationalsozialistischen Unrechts in der
Kriegsopferversorgung (BWKAusl)
Federal Compensation Act
Bundesgesetz zur Entschädigung für Opfer der
Federal Expellees Act
Gesetz über die Angelegenheiten der Vertriebenen
und Flüchtlinge (BVFG)
NSVerfolgung (BEG)
Compensation for National Socialist injustice
Federal War Victims’ Relief Act
Gesetz über die Versorgung der Opfer des Krieges
(BVG)
Final Federal Compensation Act
Zweites Gesetz zur Änderung des
Bundesentschädigungsgesetzes (BEG-SG)
General Act Regulating Compensation for War­
induced Losses
Gesetz zur allgemeinen Regelung durch den Krieg
und den Zusammenbruch des Deutschen Reiches
entstandener Schäden (AKG)
Implementing regulations to the Federal
Compensation Act
Verordnungen zur Durchführung des
Bundesentschädigungsgesetzes (DV-BEG)
Law Regarding the Conditions for Making Pensions
Payable on the basis of Employment in a Ghetto
(Ghetto Pensions Act)
Gesetz zur Zahlbarmachung von Renten aus
Beschäftigungen in einem Ghetto (ZRBG)
Pension Law Conversion Act
Gesetz zur Herstellung der Rechtseinheit in der
gesetzlichen Renten- und Unfallversicherung (RÜG)
Victims of Nazi Persecution Compensation Act
NS-Verfolgtenentschädigungsgesetz (NS-VEntschG)
Page 41
Page 42
Compensation for National Socialist injustice
PagE 43
Page 44
Published by
Public Relations Division
Federal Ministry of Finance
Wilhelmstrasse 97
10117 Berlin, Germany
November 2012
Cover image
Federal Government, Andrea Bienert
Edited by
Division V B 4
www.bundesfinanzministerium.de
www.ministere-federal-des-finances.de
www.federal-ministry-of-finance.de
www.finanzforscher.de
www.bundesfinanzministerium.de/Digitale Angebote
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