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Compensation (Wiedergutmachung)
Timeline
1942
16 December 1942‘Auschwitz Decree’: Heinrich Himmler, head of the Schutzstaffel (‘Reichsführer SS’), orders the deportation of Sinti and Roma from the German Reich to Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration and extermination camp.
1947
10 November 1947Law No. 59 of the American military government regulates the restitution of property in the US zone (part of occupied Germany) and becomes the model for later restitution laws.
1949
26 April 1949The South German Council of States passes the US Compensation Act, which becomes the starting point for the later Federal Compensation Acts in Germany.
1950
22 February 1950In a circular decree, the Württemberg-Baden Ministry of Justice in Germany advises that applications from ‘gypsies’ must always be forwarded to the criminal investigation department to check the legitimacy of the claims before they are processed.
1952
26 May 1952 The Federal Republic of Germany signs the ‘Transition Treaty’, in which the Western Allies link national sovereignty rights to a nationwide standardisation of reparation regulations.
10 September 1952With the Luxembourg Agreement between the Federal Republic of Germany and Israel and the Claims Conference, Germany commits itself for the first time to global compensation for foreign victims of Nazi persecution.
1953
18 September 1953The first federal law on compensation in Germany, the so-called Federal Compensation Act, is passed by the Bundestag.
1956
7 January 1956The Federal Court of Justice in Germany issues its precedent-setting ruling that the collective persecution of Sinti and Roma on the grounds of ‘race’ only began on 1 March 1943.
29 June 1956In Germany, the Federal Supplementary Act is replaced by the improved and more comprehensive Federal Compensation Act.
1957
29 July 1957The Federal Restitution Act introduces uniformity across the federal states in the management of restitution regulations and practice.
1963
18 December 1963The Federal Court of Justice in Germany reverses its 1956 judgement and recognises that racial-political reasons for the persecution of Sinti and Roma could have been a contributing factor even before 1943.
1965
14 November 1965The Federal Compensation Final Act in Germany provides for improvements for those persecuted. Sinti and Roma are allowed to re-file rejected claims.
1981
26 August 1981The Bundestag establishes a hardship fund in Germany for persecuted persons of non-Jewish faith. One-off payments are granted primarily to Sinti and Roma who have not yet received compensation.
2000
2 August 2000With the establishment of the ‘Foundation Remembrance, Responsibility and Future’ (EVZ) in Germany, compensation for forced labour is made possible for the first time; Sinti and Roma who do not live in Germany can also apply for compensation.
Encyclopaedia of the Nazi Genocide of the Sinti and Roma in Europe
Research Centre on Antigypsyism, Heidelberg University
Based on www.open-encyclopedia-system.org, developed by Center for Digital Systems, Freie Universität Berlin
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