Glossary Term: Befreiung

The law (Bundesentschädigungsgesetz), retroactively effective from October 1953, was the first nationwide compensation law for people who suffered expropriation, forced labour, deportation, and imprisonment during National Socialism. Eligible were persons who had their residence in the federal territory or the former German Reich by 31 December 1952 or earlier, as well as their surviving dependants. Foreign Nazi victims were thus largely excluded from the law.