Compensation and lawsuits against National Socialists
After 1982, the Central Council was able to bring about a fundamental change in the discriminatory practice of reparation for the surviving victims of Nazi persecution. Even after the Federal Court of Justice had justified the decision of the compensation authorities to reject the compensation claims with racist explanations and by invoking its judgement of 1956, the Central Council achieved a resumption of the earlier denied proceedings, which in over 3,500 individual cases led to new decisions by the compensation authorities. This granted the victims the previously denied compensation for the concentration camp imprisonment and for the incurred loss of training and education, as well as pensions for the physical injuries they had suffered. Furthermore, due to the efforts of our office in Heidelberg, the Swiss bank trust made a one-time payment to 2,900 Sinti and Roma Holocaust survivors in the late 1990s, as compensation for the financial and property losses incurred because of the Nazi deportation. Since 2000, the Central Council has supported 1590 compensation claims of the victims who had been condemned to slave labour in concentration camps; this was done in cooperation with a fund established by the industry and the Federal Government. The Central Council has also processed compensation claims in accordance with the “ghetto pension bill” and the policy of the Federal Minister of Finance concerning the “benefit in recognition” (2,000€) of the suffering endured in ghettos in the former “German Reich territory”. As a result of negations between the Central Council of the German Sinti and Roma and the Federal Ministry of Finance in 2009, this policy was later expanded to include Sinti and Roma camps and detention centres in the territory of the former German Reich. Negotiations with the Federal Ministry of Finance take place regularly. The latest result of these negotiations is a simplified application procedure for the federal hardship provisions (the same one as for the Jewish victims of persecution).
Since it was founded, the Central Council has been reappraising and documenting the genocide of the Sinti and Roma as well as seeking prosecution for the surviving SS-perpetrators. In this, the Centre often works in cooperation with Simon Wiesenthal and with authorities in Germany, the USA, Israel and Argentina.
The lawyers Arnold Roßberg and Ulrich Roeder, representatives of the accessory prosecution in the König trial, in front of a model of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.
An overview of still relevant regulations concerning the compensation of Sinti and Roma is provided below.
The Federal Compensation Act
Victims of persecution cannot file new claims for compensation under these restitution laws after 31 December 1969 – only claims that were filed before that point in time can be processed. This means, however, that those persecuted can if need be apply for a ‘damage to health’-pension because of increased ailments. Under certain circumstances, it is also possible to apply for widow’s or widower’s pension.
The Rhineland-Palatinate State Office of Finance provides more information on the restitution laws (in German):
Many Holocaust survivors were unable to meet the application deadline of the Federal Compensation Act or for some other reason did not receive any compensation based on previous laws. Because of this, various hardship funds for the victims of Nazi persecution have been established over the years.
The Compensation Disposition Fund
In some cases, victims of Nazi persecution may file compensation claims at the Federal Ministry of Finance for the hardships they had endured, in accordance with the guidelines of the federal government concerning the allocation of funds for the persecution victims of non-Jewish descent. Holocaust survivors can receive regular benefits, if they have not received any other indemnification and if they meet the following requirements:
They were detained in a concentration camp (as defined by the Federal Compensation Act) for at least three months, though individual assessment is possible in cases of shorter periods of detention; or
they were detained at certain detention centres or had to live under conditions similar to those of a concentration camp for at least three months; or
they had to live as illegal migrants, or to live in hiding under inhumane and particularly severe conditions for six months, which resulted in long-term damage to their health and a degree of disability of not less than 50%.
Regional hardship funds and foundations
In order to prevent undue hardship, additional regional hardship funds and foundations for victims of Nazi persecution were established in many German federal states. The specifics differ from federal state to federal state:
Schleswig-Holstein: For further information,please contact: Ministerium für Soziales, Gesundheit, Familie und Gleichstellung des Landes Schleswig Holstein -Referat VIII 25-
Postfach 7061
24170 Kiel
Tel.: 0431/988-0
Fax: 0431/988 5416/5458
Email: gisela.nissen@sozmi.landsh.de
Bremen: For further information,please contact: Der Senator für Wirtschaft, Arbeit und Häfen Referat 20 Hutfilterstraße 1 – 5
28195 BremenCaspar Isenberg
Tel.: +49 421 361 18432
Fax: +49 421 496 18432
E-Mail: Caspar.Isenberg@arbeit.bremen.de
oder
Cornelia Gutsche
Tel.: +49 421 361 5155
Fax: +49 421 361 10059
E-Mail: Cornelia.Gutsche@arbeit.bremen.de
Payments to the victims of persecution in recognition of work in a ghetto that did not constitute forced labour (Recognition Directive)
The directive concerns the payment of compensation to persecution victims who were detained in a ghetto, worked without coercion during this time and were paid either wages or received benefits-in-kind.
Law regarding conditions for making pensions payable from an employment in a Ghetto (ZRBG)
Provided certain conditions are met, the German pension insurance can take into account the periods of employment that victims of National Socialism completed in ghettos and recognise them as German contribution periods. The ghetto in question must have been situated in territory occupied by or incorporated into the German Reich. A German pension based on ZRBG can also be paid abroad
