The German Wiedergutmachung

Episode 3: Fight for recognition

The third episode pays attention to Sinti and Roma persecuted during the National Socialist regime. They represent the so-called “forgotten victims” (also including homosexuals, “antisocial elements”, “professional criminals”, or Wehrkraftzersetzer), whose sufferings had been recognised and compensated only decades after the Nazi terror, both socially and politically. “The German Wiedergutmachung” asks the head of the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma, Romani Rose, about his conversation with Helmut Schmidt in 1982, when the Federal Chancellor recognized the genocide of the Sinti and Roma for the first time. Bettina Limperg, president of the Federal Court of Justice, reports on a scandalous court decision from the 1950s, and Markus Metz from the Bavarian Local Association of German Sinti and Roma will tell us about the experiences of Sinti and Roma applicants at the German Wiedergutmachung authorities Music * Duo Z: LP „Ganz Anders – Deutsche Zigeunerlieder“, lyrics and music: Duo Z (Tornado Rosenberg, Rudko Kawczynski), published by „pläne“ GmbH, Dortmund 1981. About the events and people * The judgements by the Federal Court of Justice of January 7, 1956 (in: Die Präsidentin des BGH / Zentralrat Deutscher Sinti und Roma (Hg.): Doppeltes Unrecht – eine späte Entschuldigung, Eggenstein 2016, S. 25–40): Online-Version [https://zentralrat.sintiundroma.de/doppeltes-unrecht-ein-spaete-entschuldigung/] * The decree by the Reichsführer SS and head of the German police, Heinrich Himmler, (so called “Auschwitz-Erlass”) of December 16, 1942, remains undocumented. It was executed by the Express Letter of the Reich Security Main Office. January 1943, in: Stiftung niedersächsische Gedenkstätten (Hg.): Die Verfolgung der Sinti und Roma im Nationalsozialismus – Materialien aus Niedersachsen. Erlasse: 1943. Auschwitzerlass Schnellbrief. Einführung und Bearbeitungsmöglichkeiten, www.geschichte-bewusst-sein.de: [http://www.geschichte-bewusst-sein.de:] PDF [https://geschichte-bewusst-sein.de/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/SNG_014_RZ_Zusatz16-2017-02-23.pdf] * Minutes by the head of the Group 32 in the Federal Chancellery, Melzer, on the meeting between Federal Chancellor Helmut Schmidt and representatives of the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma in the Federal Chancellery in Bonn on March 17, 1982 (BArch, B 136/28311): PDF [https://cms.archivportal-d.de/sites/default/files/mediadocument/2024-10/1982-03-17_Protokoll%20Gespr%C3%A4ch%20BK%20mit%20Zentralrat_B%20136_28311.pdf] * Landfahrerordnung, 22. Dezember 1953 (BayGVBl. 1953, S. 197–198): PDF [https://www.verkuendung-bayern.de/files/gvbl/1953/27/gvbl-1953-27.pdf#page=3] Links * Online Collection „Wiedergutmachung nationalsozialistischen Unrechts“: Link [https://www.tp-wgm.de] * Bundesarchiv: Link [https://www.bundesarchiv.de/en/] * Bundesgerichtshof Link [https://www.bundesgerichtshof.de/EN/Home/homeBGH_node.html] * Central Council of German Sinti & Roma: Link [https://zentralrat.sintiundroma.de/en/] Literature on the topic * Katalog zur Ausstellung „45 Jahre Bürgerrechtsarbeit deutscher Sinti und Roma“. Herausgegeben vom Zentralrat Deutscher Sinti und Roma, Heidelberg 2017. PDF [https://zentralrat.sintiundroma.de/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/buch_45jahre_web.pdf] * von dem Knesebeck, Julia: The Roma Struggle for Compensation in Post-war Germany, Hatfield 2011. Online-Version [https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/30668] More information about the podcast episode: https://www.archivportal-d.de/content/themenportale/wiedergutmachung/podcast?lang=en [https://www.archivportal-d.de/content/themenportale/wiedergutmachung/podcast?lang=en] Presented by: Nora Hespers, edited by: Lukas Fleischmann, Jörn Petrick, Ralph Würschinger and Mirjam Sprau. Script and production: Escucha - Kultur fürs Ohr. Cover: Kreativagentur Atelier Hauer+Dörfler GmbH. Cover picture: Applicant to the URO (© bpk) | Federal Archives The podcast “The German Wiedergutmachung” is a production for the online collection “Wiedergutmachung nationalsozialistischen Unrechts” - the online platform for compensation files, conceived and commissioned by the Federal Archives. Escucha - Kultur fürs Ohr was responsible for the realization. Funding was provided by the Federal Ministry of Finance.

Episode 2: A question of territory – Looking west

The second episode takes a look at the international perspective on Wiedergutmachung, with a focus on the allied Western European states. How did compensation come about in these countries? What were the procedures? How did foreign nationals – whether persecuted themselves or immigrated later – experience the German Wiedergutmachung policy? In order to find answers, we will consult another file from the Federal Archives and we will talk to various experts. The historian Tim Geiger will inform us about the foreign policy history of Wiedergutmachung, and Nicole Immler from Utrecht/Netherlands will help us find out what people abroad thought of Wiedergutmachung. Moreover, Britta Weizenegger from the city of Saarburg will tell us about the daily business of a Wiedergutmachung office of today, and about how the German bureaucracy and the applicants perceived the Wiedergutmachung proceedings. About the events and people * History gallery of the Federal Archives on the Luxembourg Agreement of September 10, 1952: Link [https://www.bundesarchiv.de/themen-entdecken/online-entdecken/geschichtsgalerien/das-luxemburger-abkommen/] * Audio recording of Herbert Wehner's statement in the German Bundestag on March 11, 1960: Link [https://www.bundestag.de/mediathek/plenarsitzungen?videoid=7419485#url=L21lZGlhdGhla292ZXJsYXk/dmlkZW9pZD03NDE5NDg1&mod=mediathek] * Verbal note from Denmark to the Federal Government, June 21, 1956 (BArch, B 136/3306, pp. 8–9): PDF [https://cms.archivportal-d.de/sites/default/files/media/document/2022-05/1956-06-21_Verbalnote%20D%C3%A4nemark%20an%20AA%20-%20Entsch%C3%A4digung_B%20136_3306_Bl.%208%20f._WGM.pdf] * Agreement between the Federal Republic of Germany and the State of Israel of September 10, 1952 (BGBl. 1953 II, pp. 35–97): PDF [http://www.bgbl.de/xaver/bgbl/start.xav?startbk=Bundesanzeiger_BGBl&jumpTo=bgbl253s0035.pdf] * Global Agreement between the Federal Republic of Germany and Denmark of August 24, 1959 (BGBl. 1960 II, pp. 1233–1335): PDF [http://www.bgbl.de/xaver/bgbl/start.xav?startbk=Bundesanzeiger_BGBl&jumpTo=bgbl260s1333.pdf] Links * Online Collection „Wiedergutmachung nationalsozialistischen Unrechts“: Link [https://www.tp-wgm.de] * Bundesarchiv: Link [https://www.bundesarchiv.de/en/] * Akten zur Auswärtigen Politik der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (AAPD) Link [https://www.ifz-muenchen.de/en/news/topics/foreign-policy-documentation-aapd] * Amt für Wiedergutmachung in Saarburg Link [https://www.afw-lff.rlp.de/en/] * Zeitzeugenprojekt „Zwangsarbeit 1939-45“ Link [https://archiv.zwangsarbeit-archiv.de/en?checked_ohd_session=true] Literature on the topic * Reuveni, Gideon: The Phantom Giant, the No-Key Gate, and the Beauty Salon of History. The German-Jewish Reparation Settlement and the Holocaust, in: S:I.M.O.N. Shoah: Intervention. Methods. Documentation 10 (2023) 3, S. 86–103. Link [https://simon.vwi.ac.at/index.php/simon/article/view/248] * Schrafstetter, Susanna: The Diplomacy of Wiedergutmachung: Memory, the Cold War, and the Western European Victims of Nazism, 1956–1964, in: Holocaust and Genocide Studies 17 (2003) 3, S. 459–479. Link [https://doi.org/10.1093/hgs/dcg022] More information about the podcast episode: https://www.archivportal-d.de/content/themenportale/wiedergutmachung/podcast?lang=en [https://www.archivportal-d.de/content/themenportale/wiedergutmachung/podcast?lang=en] Presented by: Nora Hespers, edited by: Lukas Fleischmann, Jörn Petrick, Ralph Würschinger and Mirjam Sprau. Script and production: Escucha - Kultur fürs Ohr. Cover: Kreativagentur Atelier Hauer+Dörfler GmbH. Cover picture: Applicant to the URO (© bpk) | Federal Archives The podcast “The German Wiedergutmachung” is a production for the online collection “Wiedergutmachung nationalsozialistischen Unrechts” - the online platform for compensation files, conceived and commissioned by the Federal Archives. Escucha - Kultur fürs Ohr was responsible for the realization. Funding was provided by the Federal Ministry of Finance.

Episode 1: A question of property – between theft and law

The first episode addresses the question what belongs to whom after the fall of a terrorist regime, meaning why the restitution of houses and other valuable assets to those who suffered National Socialist persecution was essential to turn a dictatorship into a constitutional democracy. Restitution of property in this dimension had been unprecedented in history and raised a number of problems and hurdles. In order to find answers, we will open files from the Federal Archives and we will ask the historian Jürgen Lillteicher about the beginnings of German Wiedergutmachung. The lawyer Benjamin Lahusen will open the doors to the courtrooms of those days and the provenance researchers Susanne Kiel and Kathrin Kleibl will tell us what happened with the removal goods of emigrating victims that were confiscated in German harbours. About the events and people * Commented cabinet minutes about the cabinet meeting of December 21, 1949 in the online edition „Die Kabinettsprotokolle der Bundesregierung“: Link [https://kabinettsprotokolle.bundesarchiv.de/protokoll/a79de2e8-c160-4cee-bc16-9529887c9d35#kee5-5dc-45d] * Note by the Federal Minister of Justice, Thomas Dehler, on the sixth item of the agenda in the cabinet meeting of December 21, 1949, December 21, 1949 (BArch, B 141/407, pp. 19): PDF [https://cms.archivportal-d.de/sites/default/files/media/document/2024-10/1949-12-21_Note%20Dehler%20zu%20Kabinettssitzung_B%20141_407_WGM.pdf] * Letter by the Federal Minister of Justice, Thomas Dehler, to the State Secretary of the Interior in the Federal Chancellery, Mai 1, 1950 (BArch, B 141/408, pp. 19–22): PDF [https://cms.archivportal-d.de/sites/default/files/media/document/2024-10/1950-05-01_Schreiben%20BMJ%20an%20BKAm_B%20141_408.pdf] * Informationen zur Familie Kloppstock in der Lost-Lift-Datenbank: Link [https://lostlift.dsm.museum/de/detail/person/df2a3b5f-4fad-4b8c-a2c0-606eca719bc2] Links * Online Collection "Wiedergutmachung for National Socialist Injustice":Link [https://www.archivportal-d.de/themenportale/wiedergutmachung?lang=en] * Federal Archives: Link [https://www.bundesarchiv.de/en/] * AlliiertenMuseum: Link [https://www.alliiertenmuseum.de/en/] * EVZ-Projekt „Recht ohne Raub. Geschichte und Gegenwart der Rückerstattung von NS-Raubgut“: Link [https://www.stiftung-evz.de/was-wir-foerdern/drittmittel-programme/bildungsagenda-ns-unrecht/alle-projekte-der-bildungsagenda-ns-unrecht-2022/recht-ohne-recht/] Literature on the topic * Lillteicher, Jürgen: Die Rückerstattung jüdischen Eigentums in Westdeutschland nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg. Eine Studie über Verfolgungserfahrung, Rechtsstaatlichkeit und Vergangenheitspolitik 1945–1971. Dissertation Universität Freiburg Wintersemester 2002/2003. Link [https://freidok.uni-freiburg.de/data/2183] * Schleier, Bettina: Das Umzugsgut jüdischer Auswanderer – von der Enteignung zur Rückerstattung, in: Bremisches Jahrbuch 77 (1998), S. 247–265. Link [https://brema.suub.uni-bremen.de/periodical/pageview/53837] More information about the podcast episode: https://www.archivportal-d.de/content/themenportale/wiedergutmachung/podcast?lang=en [https://www.archivportal-d.de/content/themenportale/wiedergutmachung/podcast?lang=en] Presented by: Nora Hespers, edited by: Lukas Fleischmann, Jörn Petrick, Ralph Würschinger and Mirjam Sprau. Script and production: Escucha - Kultur fürs Ohr. Cover: Kreativagentur Atelier Hauer+Dörfler GmbH. Cover picture: Applicant to the URO (© bpk) | Federal Archives The podcast “The German Wiedergutmachung” is a production for the online collection “Wiedergutmachung nationalsozialistischen Unrechts” - the online platform for compensation files, conceived and commissioned by the Federal Archives. Escucha - Kultur fürs Ohr was responsible for the realization. Funding was provided by the Federal Ministry of Finance.