Compensation in the Federal Republic of Germany after 1945

The term “Wiedergutmachung” (reparation), often criticized today, encompassed in the postwar Federal Republic both compensation and restitution in the context of Nazi injustice. Compensation largely referred to redress for personal injury – for example, health damage caused by imprisonment – while restitution concerned the recovery of assets confiscated due to Nazi persecution, such as shares, companies, real estate, or artworks.

In the immediate postwar years, emergency relief measures were first implemented at the municipal level. Gradually, regional administrative structures for compensating Nazi victims developed in the British, American, and French occupation zones. These differed considerably across the three zones and in the four-power city of Berlin.

In the British zone, the decisive regulation was Zonenpolitische Anordnung 20 (ZPA, Zone-political Decree 20) of December 1945. It stipulated that those persecuted on “racial,” religious, or political grounds should receive special benefits in food supply, employment, and housing, as well as financial assistance. To implement this, so-called Kreissonderhilfsausschüsse (KSHA, District Special Aid Committees) were established in all districts from January 1946 onward. These committees examined applicants’ need and worthiness and were responsible for recognizing individuals as Opfer des Faschismus (OdF, Victims of Fascism).

Index card from the OdF Support Office, Braunschweig, 1946 (reverse side)

The tailor Robert Lutze, persecuted as an SPD member, received coal allocations, window glazing, and a sewing machine in 1946–47.

NLA Abteilung Wolfenbüttel

With the establishment of the Federal Republic and the entry into force of the Basic Law on 24 May 1949, the state- and zone-specific provisions were adopted as federal law but not unified. Thus, the three occupation zones continued to operate under parallel regulations. The restoration of West German sovereignty and the end of occupation were linked by the Allies to the demand that restitution be continued and standardized nationwide. The Luxembourg AgreementOn 18 March 1953, the German Bundestag ratified the “Luxembourg Agreement” signed on 10 September 1952 between the Federal Republic of Germany, Israel, and the Jewish Claims Conference for the “reparation of Nazi injustices.” The FRG thereby assumed responsibility for the crimes committed against Jews during the Nazi era. of 1952/53 further placed the Federal Republic’s responsibility for Nazi injustice in the spotlight.

The initially provisional Bundesergänzungsgesetz zur Entschädigung für Opfer der nationalsozialistischen Verfolgung (BErgG, Federal Supplementary Law for Compensation of Victims of National Socialist Persecution) of October 1953, based on the US-EG, was expanded by the Bundesentschädigungsgesetz (BEG, Federal Compensation Act) of June 1956. The latter applied retroactively from October 1953 and included a broader circle of eligible claimants than the BErgG.

Under the BEG, victims of the Nazi regime were defined as those persecuted for political, “racial,” or religious reasons who had suffered harm to life, liberty, health, professional advancement, property, or assets. Recognized victims or their surviving dependents could receive imprisonment compensation, pension payments, and welfare benefits such as emergency aid and convalescent care. The one-time compensation for imprisonment amounted to 150 Deutsche Mark for each month of incarceration.

Yet the restrictions, exclusion criteria, and bureaucratic hurdles of the BEG were numerous. The application deadline ended in April 1958. Only under exceptions – such as proven prior ignorance of entitlement – could applications be submitted until December 1969. According to the principle of territoriality (residence clause), only persons who had resided between 1937 and 1952 in the territory of the later Federal Republic or in West Berlin were eligible. Consequently, individuals residing in the GDR, foreign victims deported to the Reich, and foreign resistance fighters were generally excluded.

Moreover, persons were excluded if they had “aided” the Nazi regime, opposed the “free democratic basic order” of the Federal Republic, or had served more than three years in prison after the war. Even brief NSDAP membership could be construed as “aiding and abetting” the NS regime and thus serve as grounds for exclusion from recognition as a Nazi victim. For politically active Communists, compensation in the Federal Republic became virtually impossible after the banning of the KPD in 1956.

Bureaucracy further complicated compensation. Since the federal states were responsible for implementing the Federal Compensation Act (BEG) and had to establish new administrative bodies and regulations, the process was delayed and often difficult to navigate. The burden of proof of persecution – for example, through documentation of imprisonment – lay with the applicants. Those whose claims were rejected could appeal, as in a court proceeding. However, this step often took many years and was nearly impossible without costly legal assistance. Health damages were frequently not recognized as compensable, as the causal link to Nazi persecution was disputed. Even when recognized, regular medical re-examinations were mandatory in order to receive a pension.

Letter from the SPD regarding Robert Lutze’s party membership and imprisonment, addressed to the Compensation Office in Braunschweig, 25 August 1955

NLA Abteilung Wolfenbüttel

Health Consequences of Imprisonment

Groups such as those forcibly sterilized and Sinti* and Roma* were excluded from the BEG. Under restrictions, they could receive compensation through the Allgemeines Kriegsfolgengesetz (AKG, General War Consequences Law), adopted in November 1957. Compensation was granted for harm to life, body, health, or liberty. Yet even here, a modified residence clause applied, and applications had to be submitted quickly – by December 1958. Only thirty years later, in March 1988, the AKG hardship guidelines significantly expanded the circle of eligible claimants, now including those persecuted because of their physical or mental condition or behaviour, such as “euthanasia” victims, homosexuals, “anti-social elements,” “work refusers,” and “criminals,” as well as their surviving dependents.

For the Western European global agreements of the 1960s concerning compensation for foreign victims, see here.

Because the GDR had no reparation provisions, this legal framework had to be implemented in the new federal states after reunification. The Entschädigungsrentengesetz (ERG, Compensation Pensions Act) of 1992 ensured that honorary and survivor pensions for former Fighters against Fascism and Victims of Fascism from the GDR continued to be paid, and allowed those not recognized in the GDR to submit pension applications.

Only eight years after reunification, the Gesetz zur Aufhebung nationalsozialistischer Unrechtsurteile (Law on the Annulment of National Socialist Injustice Sentences) of 28 May 1998 annulled en bloc a large number of Nazi sentences issued after 30 January 1933 for political or ideological reasons. This included all judgments of the Volksgerichtshof (People’s CourtThe People’s Court (Volksgerichtshof) was the highest political court established in 1934 to “combat enemies of the state” in the Third Reich. Its seat was in Berlin, but it also held sessions in other cities. No legal remedies could be lodged against a judgment of the People’s Court. The court imposed over 5,200 death sentences.) and the summary courts. For many victims and relatives, however, it remained important – and still is today – to receive individual confirmation of annulment from the public prosecutor’s office.

The General Annulment of Nazi Injustice Sentences

In August 2000, the establishment of the Stiftung Erinnerung, Verantwortung und Zukunft (EVZ, Foundation Remembrance, Responsibility and Future) made compensation for forced labour possible. Applications could be submitted until December 2001. In total, nearly €4.4 billion was paid to 1.66 million eligible claimants or their heirs in 98 countries.

Between 1995 and 2015, further regulations with similarly short application deadlines followed for additional groups – for example, those convicted of undermining military morale, conscientious objection, or desertion (1995–97), ghetto workers (2002), and Soviet prisoners of war (2015). Yet not all groups have been included to this day. By 2022, the Federal Republic had paid out €82 billion, of which about €49 billion derived from the BEG.

Entschädigungsleistungen der Bundesrepublik Deutschland für die Opfer des Nationalsozialismus bis 2022 (in Milliarden Euro)

Even today, non-Jewish Nazi victims and their relatives can in some cases apply for compensation under the Härtefonds-Ergänzungsprogramm (Hardship Fund Supplementary Program).

 “Still, After 80 Years”