Compensation for NS Judicial Convicts
The judicial convicts imprisoned and executed during National Socialism represent a group of persecutees which is frequently neglected in the culture of remembrance. Their stories are at the centre of the project “Eternal Prisoners?!” and the subsequent project “2x (In)Justice? Participatory App Development on the Consequences of Compensation for NS Judicial Convicts.” Over a period of two years, the project team researched compensation, conducted interviews, and developed educational programmes using the former Wolfenbüttel Prison as a case study.
The pilot project “‘Eternal Prisoners?!’ Compensation for NS Judicial Convicts and the Individual as well as Societal Consequences”, starting in October 2022 and concluding in September 2024, was carried out in cooperation with the Institute for Braunschweig Regional History (IBRG) of the TU Braunschweig and the Belgian Hogeschool VIVES Kortrijk. It examined compensation in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Norway.
The follow-up project “2x (In)Justice? Participatory App Development on the Consequences of Compensation for NS Judicial Convicts” ran from October 2024 to December 2025 and expanded the research findings with a comparative perspective on the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and the German Democratic Republic (GDR). Cooperation partners were the Educational Association Arbeit und Leben Niedersachsen (Work and Life Lower Saxony) as well as the Kunstverein Braunschweig e.V. (Art Society Braunschweig).
Both projects were funded by the Foundation Remembrance, Responsibility, and Future (EVZ) and the Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF) as part of the Education Agenda NS-Injustice.
Compensation for NS Judicial Convicts
The judicial convicts imprisoned and executed during National Socialism represent a group of persecutees which is frequently neglected in the culture of remembrance. Their stories are at the centre of the project “Eternal Prisoners?!” and the subsequent project “2x (In)Justice? Participatory App Development on the Consequences of Compensation for NS Judicial Convicts.” Over a period of two years, the project team researched compensation, conducted interviews, and developed educational programmes using the former Wolfenbüttel Prison as a case study.
The pilot project “‘Eternal Prisoners?!’ Compensation for NS Judicial Convicts and the Individual as well as Societal Consequences”, starting in October 2022 and concluding in September 2024, was carried out in cooperation with the Institute for Braunschweig Regional History (IBRG) of the TU Braunschweig and the Belgian Hogeschool VIVES Kortrijk. It examined compensation in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Norway.
The follow-up project “2x (In)Justice? Participatory App Development on the Consequences of Compensation for NS Judicial Convicts” ran from October 2024 to December 2025 and expanded the research findings with a comparative perspective on the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and the German Democratic Republic (GDR). Cooperation partners were the Educational Association Arbeit und Leben Niedersachsen (Work and Life Lower Saxony) as well as the Kunstverein Braunschweig e.V. (Art Society Braunschweig).
Both projects were funded by the Foundation Remembrance, Responsibility, and Future (EVZ) and the Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF) as part of the Education Agenda NS-Injustice.
5 Countries
The treatment of NS judicial convicts and their families after 1945 varied in the two German states and the Western European countries. Some were honoured as resistance fighters and quickly received financial support for the injustices they had suffered. Others fought for decades in vain for recognition and compensation.
The website provides information on country-specific regulations for compensation payments and the societal treatment of NS judicial convicts in the FRG, the GDR, Belgium, Norway, and the Netherlands.
The compensation policy in the two German states differed greatly from one another. What they had in common was that numerous victim groups were “forgotten,” including judicially convicted persons such as those persecuted as criminals.
During the war, about 2,000 people from Belgium, Norway and the Netherlands were imprisoned in the Wolfenbüttel Prison for various forms of resistance against the German occupation. Bringing together the perspectives of these countries allows for a comparison of differences in compensation practices.
22 Biographies
How were the lives of judicial convicts and their families shaped by National Socialist persecution? And what role did compensation payments play for the affected individuals after 1945?
The selected biographies and the individual experiences of the persecutees are as diverse as the reasons for their persecution and countries of origin. The stories of the affected individuals and their families show that the issue of compensation continues to have an impact to this day.
New Educational Programmes
How can the history of compensation for Nazi injustice be conveyed and used for critical engagement today?
The Wolfenbüttel Prison Memorial has developed new workshops and educational materials on the topic of “Compensation for NS Judicial Convicts.” In addition to secondary school pupils, it is particularly aimed at university students and professionals in the fields of justice and corrections.
The educational materials can be downloaded for free. They can be used regardless of the location and applied in other educational institutions as well as by providers of extracurricular education.
Serious Game “Gegen Mauern“ (Up Against Walls)
Together with course participants from Arbeit und Leben Niedersachsen as well as relatives of former NS judicially convicted persons, the project “2x (In)Justice?” produced the interactive graphic novel game “Gegen Mauern. Vier Leben, vier Kämpfe” (Up Against Walls. Four Lives, Four Struggles).
The game can be downloaded for free in the app stores.
Download Apple App Store
Download Google Play
