The Roma Struggle for Compensation in Post-War Germany

Front matter

Julia von dem Knesebeck

IGE ROMA SING GGEE FOR COMEENSAITON G in Rostan Germany

The Roma Struggle for Compensation in Post-War

Introduction

The Early Post-War Years (1945-1953) The Machinery of Compensation How to Measure Disability

EN iD

Property Claims Conclusion Epilogue

Bibliography Index

133 161 195 221 227

241 261

Preface

In this book, Julia von dem Knesebeck examines the history of persecution of Sintiand Roma under National Socialist rule and the struggle for compensation that followed. The focus is on post-war West Germany through the period of the 1970s, with special attention given to the Federal Compensation Laws. The selection of this particular timeframe is based on the fact that the deadline for filing claims under the Federal Compensation Law (BEG) expired shortly before that time, and thus officials in the compensation claims offices were forced to arrive at a final determination concerning that period of history.

The study shows unequivocally that the Sinti and Roma - referred to here under the term ‘Roma’ — had to fight for decades (and, initially, in vain) for recognition as racially persecuted victims of National Socialism and of a genocide that was analagous to the mass murder of the Jews. In post-war West Germany, they were subjected to further indignities when the injustices they had suffered in the years leading up to 1943 — their racially motivated persecution by the Nazi regime — were not recognised as such, but were instead largely misconstrued by post-war legal experts as ‘justifiable actions’ on the part of the National Socialist state.

Contemporary historian Julia von dem Knesebeck outlines the manner in which discriminatory practices and prejudices already in place prior to the advent of the Nazi regime — the treatment of Sinti and Roma as ‘asocials’, ‘vagrants’ and ‘criminal elements’ — established the framework for presenting subsequent National Socialist injustices as a mere tightening of repressive social and preventative criminal measures brought on by the onset of war. In post-war Germany, compensation was denied to Sinti and Roma on the basis of the same specious arguments used to persecute them under National Socialism: they had allegedly committed crimes as ‘asocials’ and thus had no legitimate claim to compensation. This author’s far-reaching perspective is particularly significant because it identifies a widespread mechanism evident in the framing and re-framing of acts of injustice that ought to be taken into consideration with regard to contemporary political conflicts and government interventions, especially when minority populations are involved. To put it more bluntly: when dealing with social conflict situations, it is particularly imperative that we develop a prophylactic political consciousness of sensitivity in order to prevent disadvantages from degenerating into political and social discrimination and eventually into persecution — persecution which may in turn be re-framed as legitimate acts of state and society, and which may even be employed to perpetuate ongoing discrimination.

x THE ROMA STRUGGLE FOR COMPENSATION

Today, we also take umbrage at the compensation authority’s basic attitude at that time. The denial of the racial nature of the Roma and Sinti’s persecution and its reframing as legitimate policing measures targeted at ‘asocials’ allowed concentration camp imprisonment to be portrayed as a constitutionally allowed restriction of freedom. It is true that post-war Germany suffered from a lack of awareness and political will to recognise the injustice of the incarceration of human individuals in concentration camps based on their ostracism as ‘asocials’ under National Socialism. In the law on the Foundation ‘Remembrance, Responsibility and Future’ (Stiftung ‘Erinnerung, Verantwortung und Zukunft’ — Foundation EVZ) this is however regulated in favour of the victims. At the same time — as the author illustrates and clarifies — it is remarkable to note how relatively successful the struggle to regain control of confiscated property was for Sinti and Roma.

What is more, the author sheds light on the struggle of Sinti and Roma for compensation as a process in which the self-organisation of the victims simultaneously served as a fundamental building block in the development of a paradigmatic shift in social consciousness. Unlike the Jews, whose compensation claims against Germany were supported by many governments, including that of the United States, and were turned into political capital with the aid of internationally recognised, competent organisations very early on, for decades the Sinti and Roma lacked any appreciable political lobby. This confirms yet again that it was ultimately the political process and public pressure that were responsible for the transformation of the Sinti and Roma’s situation over the past thirty years in Germany. Still, it is safe to say that no amount of retrospective recognition and compensation will ever succeed in making up for past omissions. The descendants of those who were treated so poorly not only participated vicariously in the fate of the persecuted generation but were subject to tangible forms of discrimination themselves.

Julia von dem Knesebeck’s work is captivating for the breadth of sources upon which it is based, some of which had not been examined previously. Her methodological approach is informed by an empathetic affinity for Sinti and Roma: by taking written testimony and interviews into account in her work, she also acknowledges the Sinti and Roma as subjects. Specifically, the author demonstrates, for example, just what it meant for Sinti and Roma to live with the consequences of compulsory sterilisation: the injustice of unfathomable personal suffering was amplified by the loss of status that accompanies childlessness and the attendant denial of social recognition. The type of representation the author provides here makes a valuable contribution to the elimination of widespread prejudices.

Compensation to Sinti and Roma in the GDR for suffering incurred as the result of National Socialist injustice lies beyond the thematic scope of this study. This is a subject that must be held in reserve for future research, along with the continued development of West German federal regulations concerning compensation for damages resulting from National Socialist injustice after 1980 in

PREFACE xi general, as well as with specific regard to Sinti and Roma (both domestically and internationally).

Acknowledging the Sinti and Roma as victims of National Socialism, as well as fostering their empowerment as contemporary citizens, is a central concern for us at the Foundation ‘Remembrance, Responsibility and Future’ (Foundation EVZ). This is one primary reason why it decided to make an exception in supporting the publication of Julia von dem Knesebeck’s work. The Sinti and Roma - even those living abroad — have been given full consideration in the regulations and statutes governing the Foundation for victims of forced labour practices and other forms of National Socialist injustice.

At present, the Foundation EVZ is actively focused on improving educational opportunities for the Sinti and Roma in Central and Eastern Europe.

Günter Saathoff Board of Directors, Foundation ‘Remembrance, Responsibility and Future’

Acknowledgements

This book is an extension of my D.Phil., submitted to Oxford University in 2008.

The D.Phil. was made possible by funding from the following institutions, for which I am deeply grateful: the Alfred Toepfer Stiftung EV.S. (Hanseatic Scholarship for Britons); the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies Fellowship); the German Historical Institute Washington D.C. (Doctoral Fellowship); Somerville College, Oxford (Travel Grant and grants from the Barbara Craig Fund).

Generous help towards the printing cost of this publication has further been given by the Alfred Toepfer Stiftung F. V.S. and, for the translation of the German source material into English, by the Foundation ‘Remembrance, Responsibility and Future’.

Invaluable assistance throughout has been given by my supervisor, Dr Nicholas Stargardt (Magdalen College, Oxford University), for which I would like to thank him sincerely. His intellectual guidance has been just as important to me as his moral support throughout my studies.

My thanks also go to Dr Gudrun Fiedler from the State Archive Wolfenbiittel, who introduced me to archival research; to Ms Eva Pankok from the Otto Pankok Archive for allowing me to study her father’s collection; the staff at the State Archive Miinster; the late Dr Michael Zimmermann and Dr Marc von Miquel (Villa ten Hompel, Münster) for helpful advice; Marco Knudsen at the Europäisches Zentrum für Antiziganismusforschung for inviting me to conferences, and giving me a platform to present my ideas; Dr Wilhelm Solms from the Gesellschaft für Antiziganismusforschung (Marburg) for advice and for giving me the opportunity to join the institute’s academic advisory board; Professor Hans Günter Hockerts (University of Munich) for comments and direction at an early stage of my D.Phil.

On a personal note, I would like to thank Berndt v. dem Knesebeck and his family for hosting me during my repeated research stays in Münster; Professor Hanns Ullrich for insights into the German legal system; Kristine Seidler for moral support in Hamburg; three friends in particular for reading my work and making critical comments: Dr Christian Göschel (Birkbeck), James Palmer, and, most importantly, Dr Corin Throsby, who went through the same process and generally put things into perspective.

But none of this would have been possible without the support of my family, whom I would like to thank above all: Rosemarie, Herneid, Philipp with his wife Paloma, and Gregor v. dem Knesebeck; and last but not least my husband Ian Maddison, who spent numerous holidays and weekends reading endless versions of the manuscript.

List of Abbreviations and Recurring German Terms

AKG: Allgemeines Kriegsfolgengesetz:

Anerkennungsausschuss:

Aktion Arbeitsscheu Reich: ATO: Allgemeine Treuhandorganisation: BEG: Bundesentschädigungsgesetz:

BEG-S: Bundesentschädigungs-Schlußgesetz:

BErgG: Bundesergänzungsgesetz: Betreuungsstelle für Opfer des Faschismus: Bezirksregierung:

BGB: Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch:

BGBI.: Bundesgesetzblatt:

BGH: Bundesgerichtshof:

BMF: Bundesministerium der Finanzen: BRD: Bundesrepublik Deutschland: BRüG: Bundesrückerstattungsgesetz: BT-Drucksachen: Bundestag-Drucksachen:

Bund:

Bundeskabinett:

Bundesrat:

Bundestag:

Bürgerliche Ehrenrechte:

DDP: Deutsche Demokratische Partei: DM: Deutsche Mark:

General Law on Consequences Arising from the War

Committee Responsible for the Recognition of Victims of National Socialist Persecution

Operation Reich Workshy General Trusteeship Organisation Federal Compensation Law

Final Federal Compensation Law

Supplemental Federal Compensation Law Support Agency for Victims of Fascism District Administration

German Civil Code

Federal Law Gazette

Federal Supreme Court

Federal Finance Ministry

Federal Republic of Germany

Federal Restitution Law

Printed Papers of the Lower House of Parliament

German Federal State

Federal Cabinet

Upper House of German Parliament Lower House of German Parliament Civil Liberties

Federal Expellee Law

Christian Democratic Union Christian Social Union

German Democratic Party

German Mark xvi THE ROMA STRUGGLE FOR COMPENSATION

Entschädigungsgesetz:

Entschädigungssenat:

Erbgesundheitsgericht:

Erlaß zur Bekämpfung der Zigeunerplage: Fb: Findbuch:

Festsetzungserlass:

FRG:

GDR:

Generalstaatsanwalt:

Gesellschaft für bedrohte Völker:

Gesetz zur Regelung offener Vermögensfragen (VermG):

Gestapo: Geheime Staatspolizei: Gesundheitsamt: Grundgesetz:

Grundlegender Erlaß über die vorbeugende Verbrechensbekämpfung:

GVBl.: Gesetzesverordnungsblatt: Haftentschädigung: Härteausgleich:

Hartefonds:

HStA: Hauptstaatsarchiv:

JCG:

JRSO:

JTC:

KdF: Kraft durch Freude:

KPD: Kommunistische Partei Deutschlands:

Kreis:

German Nationalist People’s Party SS Task Forces

Compensation Chamber: body responsible for compensation cases at the District Courts

Compensation Law

Compensation Senate: Panel of five judges who oversaw compensation cases in the Higher District Courts

Hereditary Health Court

Decree for Combating the Gypsy Plague Archival Finding Aid

Compulsory Settlement Order

Free Democratic Party

Revenue Office

Federal Republic of Germany

German Democratic Republic Attorney General

Society for Endangered Peoples

Law Regulating Open Asset Questions

Secret State Police Health Authority Federal Basic Law

Circular Decree Concerning the Preventative Fight against Crime

Official Law and Ordinance Gazette compensation for wrongful imprisonment Hardship Allowance

Hardship Fund

Main State Archive

Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany (‘Jewish Claims Conference’ in the text)

Jewish Restitution Successor Organisation Jewish Trust Corporation

Strength through Joy

Communist Party of Germany

District

Kreisausschuß:

Kriegsopfer:

Kripo: Kriminalpolizei: KSHA: Kreissonderhilfsausschuß: KZ-Ausschüsse:

LAG: Lastenausgleichsgesetz: Land / Länder: Landeskriminalamt: Landesrentenbehörde: Landfahrerverordnung: Landfahrerzentrale:

Landrat:

Landratsamt:

LG: Landesgericht:

LMU: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München:

MdE: Minderung der Erwerbsfähigkeit: Mitläufer: Nds: Niedersächsisch:

NdsGVBl.: Niedersächsisches Gesetzesverordnungsblatt:

NLA: Niedersächsisches Landesarchiv: NRW: Nordrhein-Westfalen:

NSDAP: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei:

NS-Verfolgtenentschädigungsgesetz:

Oberbürgermeister:

OFD: Oberfinanzdirektion:

OKW: Oberkommando der Wehrmacht: OLG: Oberlandesgericht:

OMGUS:

PTSD: Regierungsbezirk:

Regierungspräsident:

Regierungspräsidium:

ABBREVIATIONS xvii District Committee

Victim of War

Criminal Police

District Special Relief Committee Concentration Camp Commissions Equalisation of Burdens Law

Federal state(s)

State Office of Criminal Investigation State Pension Authority

Decree on Vagrants

Central Agency for Vagrants

District Administrator

Office of the District Administrator District Court

Ludwig-Maximilian University of Munich

Reduction in Earning Capacity Nominal Member of the NSDAP relating to Lower Saxony

Law and Ordinance Gazette of Lower Saxony

State Archive of Lower Saxony North Rhine-Westphalia

National Socialist German Workers Party

Compensation Law for Persons Persecuted under National Socialism

Lord Mayor

Regional Fiscal Authority

Central Command of the German Army Higher District Court

Office of the Military Government, United States

Post-traumatic stress disorder District

President of the Administrative Headquarters

Administrative Headquarters xviii

Reichszentrale zur Bekämpfung der Zigeunerplage:

RGBl.: Reichsgesetzblatt: RKPA: Reichskriminalpolizeiamt: RM: Reichsmark:

RMBIiV: Ministerialblatt des Reichs- und preußischen Ministeriums des Innern:

RSHA: Reichssicherheitshauptamt:

RzW: Rechtsprechung zum Wiedergutmachungsrecht

SED: Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands:

SPD: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands:

SS: Schutzstaffel: Staatsarchiv: Staatsministerium:

Stiftung “Erinnerung, Verantwortung und Zukunft’ (EVZ):

URO: USEG: United States Entschädigungsgesetz: USHMM:

Vorbeugehaft:

VVN: Vereinigung der Verfolgten des Naziregimes:

WG / WGM: Wiedergutmachung: Wiedergutmachungsamt: Wiedergutmachungsausschuss: Wiedergutmachungsdezernat: Wiedergutmachungsdispositionsfonds:

Zentralrat Deutscher Sinti und Roma:

Reich Central Agency for Combating the Gypsy Plague

Law Gazette of the German Reich Reich Criminal Police Office German Reich Mark

Ministerial Gazette of the German Reich and Prussian Ministry of Interior

Central Office of the Security Police

Journal of the Court of Restitution

National Socialist Storm Division Edict Protective Custody

Socialist Unity Party of (East) Germany

Security Police Special Relief Committee Late Emigree

Social Democratic Party of Germany

National Socialist Paramilitary Force State Archive State Ministry

German Foundation ‘Remembrance, Responsibility and Future’

United Restitution Organisation United States Compensation Law

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Preventive Custody

Association of Persecutees of the Nazi Regime

Compensation and Restitution Compensation Office Compensation Committee Compensation Department Compensation Disposition Fund

Central Council of German Sinti and Roma (‘Central Council’ in the text)

Zonal Instruction

Currencies

Glossary

Reichsmark (Deutsches Reich, until 1948) German Mark (West Germany) (East) Mark (East Germany)

Selected Laws Predating 1933

1900 1926

German Civil Code (Bürgerliche Gesetzbuch — BGB) Law for the Restriction (lit.: combat’) of Gypsies, Travellers and the Workshy Gesetz zur Bekämpfung von Zigeunern, Landfahrern und Arbeitsscheuen

Selected National Socialist Laws and Decrees

1938 1939 1943

Law Concerning the Confiscation of Assets from Enemies of the People and State (Gesetz über die Einziehung volks- und staatsfeindlichen Vermögens) Law for the Prevention of Offspring with Hereditary Discases Gesetz zur Verhütung erbkranken Nachwuchses (Erbgesundheitsgesetz)

Gesetz zum Schutze des deutschen Blutes und der deutschen Ehre (Blutschutzgesetz — RGBl) [Nuremberg Law]

Reich Citizenship Act Reichsbürgergesetz [Nuremberg Law]

Law for the Protection of the Hereditary Health of the German People (Marital Health Law) Gesetz zum Schutze der Erbgesundheit des deutschen Volkes (Ehegesundheitsgesetz)

Fundamental Decree Concerning the Preventative Combat of Crime by the Police Grundlegender Erlafs über die vorbeugende Verbrechensbekämpfung durch die Polizet)

Decree for Combating the Gypsy Plague Erlaß zur Bekämpfung der Zigeunerplage

Operation Reich Workshy Aktion Arbeitsscheu Reich

Compulsory Settlement Order Festsetzungserlaß

Auschwitz Decree Auschwitz Erlass

Selected Post-War Laws

1949 1949

Federal Basic Law Grundgesetz — GG (‘Grundgesetz’ in the text) Law Concerning Compensation for Deprivation of Liberty for Political, Racial and Religious Reasons (Gesetz über Entschädigung für Freiheitsentziehung aus politischen, rassischen und religiösen Gründen — Haftentschädigungsge- Federal War Victims Relief Act Gesetz über die Versorgung der Opfer des

Equalisation of Burdens Law Lastenausgleichsgesetz — LAG Supplemental Federal Compensation Law Bundesergänzungsgesetz zur Entschädigung für Opfer der nationalsozialistischen Verfolgung (Bunde-

Federal Expellee Law Gesetz über die Angelegenheiten der Vertriebenen

Federal Compensation Law Bundesgesetz zur Entschädigung für Opfer der nationalsozialistischen Verfolgung (Bundesentschädigungsgesetz — BEG) Federal Restitution Law (Bundesrückerstattungsgesetz — BRüG)

Law for the General Regulation of Damages created by the War and the Breakup of the German Reich [in the text: General War Consequences Law] Gesetz zur allgemeinen Regelung durch den Krieg und den Zusammenbruch des Deutschen Reiches entstandener Schäden (Allgemeines Kriegsfolgenge-

Final Federal Compensation Law (Bundesentschädigungsschlußgesetz

Xx setz) [Compensation for Wrongful Imprisonment Law] 1950 Krieges (Bundesversorgungsgesetz — BVG) 1952 1953 sergdnzungsgesetz — BErgG) 1953 und Fliichtlinge (Bundesvertriebenengesetz — BVFG) 1956 1957 1957 setz — AKG) 1965 —BEG-S) 1994

Law for the Compensation of NS Persecutees (NS-Verfolgtenentschädigungsgesetz — NS-VEntschG)

Selected National Socialist Organisations/Terms

Central Command of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht - OKW

German Army

Central Office of the Security Police Reichssicherheitshauptamt — RSHA

Generalgouvernement [occupied Poland]

Gestapo Secret State Police (Geheime Staatspolizei)

Operation Reich Workshy Reich Criminal Police Office

Aktion Arbeitsscheu Reich Reichskriminalpolizeiamt — RKPA

Selected Post-War Organisations/Terms

Central Council of German Sinti and Roma

Compensation for Wrongful Imprisonment

District Special Relief Committee

District

Zentralrat Deutscher Sinti und Roma [also referred to as ‘Central Council’ in the text]

Haftentschädigung

Kreissonderhilfsausschuß — KSHA Regierungsbezirk

Federal Supreme Court of Germany

Green Party Grundgesetz Jewish Claims Conference

Local District Nominal member [of the NSDAP]

Social Democratic Party (correctly: Social Democratic Party of Germany)

Society for Endangered Peoples

Support Agency for Victims of Fascism

Wiedergutmachung

GLOSSARY XX1

(Bundesgerichtshof — BGH)

correctly: The Greens/Die Griinen [since 1990: Bündnis 90/Die Grünen]

Federal Basic Law of West/re-unified Germany

(full title: Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany) — JCC

(Land)Kreis

Mitläufer (lit. someone who follows the crowd)

Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands — SPD

Gesellschaft für bedrohte Völker

Betreuungsstelle für Opfer des Faschismus lit. ‘making good again’ (see discussion in chapter one)

Introduction

The Roma are the largest ethnic minority in Europe,' and yet their stories, customs, language and history have received relatively little attention. Everybody seems to know what and who ‘Gypsies’ are, yet few are acquainted with more than the standard myths and prejudices, ranging from the romantic view of the Roma as a free-spirited and musical people, to the old stereotypes of the Roma as vagabonds, thieves and child kidnappers. This book will use the word ‘Roma’ to describe this group as a whole.”

Academic interest in the Roma began in the late eighteenth century when they became a topic of philological interest, since they were believed to be of Indian origin and to speak a language descended from Sanskrit. They were also studied as curiosities and perceived as almost medieval cultural oddities.* During this time, contact with the Roma was largely limited to the police and welfare institutions, thus emphasising the stereotypes of Roma as socially irresponsible criminals.

' The European Commission put the estimated number of Roma in Europe at about ten million in 2004. European Commission, The Situation of Roma in an Enlarged European Union (Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxembourg, 2004), p. 9.

2 There are many different names employed for describing parts of this minority group or their entirety. This book will use the word ‘Roma’ to describe this group as a whole. This is the plural of a Romani word for ‘person’, with ‘Rom’ being the singular. In Germany, the commonly used phrase is ‘Sinti and Roma’, which describes the two major sub-sections of this minority group in Germany. Sinti are the Roma who have lived in Germany for several centuries, i.e. the ‘German Roma’ (singular Sinto/Sintezza), while ‘Roma’ refers to the Roma from the East (comparable to the term ‘Ostjuden’, as employed in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries). Other groupings include Kale, Lalleri, Manusch and Kalderash. The term ‘Jenische’ in German-speaking countries refers to a group that has at times been called the ‘weiße Zigeuner’ because of their nomadic lifestyle. Their origin is uncertain, and although at times they describe themselves as being of Celtic origin, this has not been sufficiently established. Talking of ‘Gypsies’ or ‘Zigeuner’ has generally been discredited, and will only be used in inverted commas, in the context of the Third Reich, or with regard to measures against this minority group preceding the Third Reich. This use is necessary because at times the group targeted by these measures was larger than those who regarded themselves as ethnic Roma — the ‘Jenische’ were, for instance, also targeted by National Socialist racial policies. It was used as a catch-all phrase with a deliberately vague definition, so that it could be employed according to the lawmakers’ desires. The term ‘Gypsy’ or ‘Zigeuner’ very frequently included vagabonds, ‘vagrants’ and the ‘workshy’. Throughout the book, ‘Gypsy/Gypsies’ (in inverted commas) will be used as a translation for the National Socialist concept of ‘Zigeuner’.

3 J. C. C. Rüdiger, Von der Sprache und Herkunft der Zigeuner aus Indien (Kummer, Leipzig, 1782); H. M. G. Grellmann, Die Zigeuner. Ein historischer Versuch über die Lebensart und Verfassung, Sitten und Schicksale dieses Volkes in Europa, nebst ihrem Ursprung (Dieterich, Dessau/Leipzig, 1783) (first English translation in 1787); A. F. Pott, Zigeuner in Europa und Asien (Heynemann, Halle, 1844/45).

It took a major catastrophe for the Roma - the Holocaust - for serious academic interest in them to be stirred, and even then there was a thirty-year delay.* This interest began with the belated acceptance, in Germany and elsewhere, that the Roma, too, had been victims of the Holocaust. However, a detailed study of the persecution of Roma during the Third Reich has only been undertaken for the German-speaking territories.’ The increased attention paid to the persecution of Jews in the Eastern occupied territories in the late 1990s did not include any detailed study of the Roma’s persecution in these areas. Ulrich Herbert’s collection of essays, Nationalsozialistische Vernichtungspolitik 1939-1945. Neue Forschungen und Kontroversen (National Socialist Policy of Destruction 1939-1945. New Research and Controversies),° published in 1998, contained new research on areas such as Galicia, Serbia, Belarus, Lithuania and occupied Poland. However, the focus was on Jewish victims, and Roma were not mentioned in these studies, with the exception of Walter Manoschek’s study of Serbia, where the murder of Roma is briefly mentioned in the context of the autumn 1941 Wehrmacht shootings of Jews, Communists and ‘Gypsies’ in Serbia.” After modern academics began to take an interest in the Roma, they were described as ‘forgotten victims’. They were doubly forgotten: largely ignored by the authorities immediately after the war, and absent from the public and historical memory of the Holocaust in West Germany and elsewhere.’ This book examines the period in West German history during which the Roma were not yet known as ‘forgotten victims’ — the time between the end of the war and

* Estimates of the numbers killed vary considerably between 90,000 and 500,000. Zimmermann puts the number of Roma killed in the territories controlled by the National Socialists at a minimum of around 90,000. Kenrick and Puxon estimated in their 1972 edition that about 219,000 out of a European pre-war population of one million Roma were killed. However, in 1989 Kenrick revised this figure to 196,000 deaths out of a pre-war population of 831,000. His 1995 edition cites 200,000 deaths, but suggests that if one added those Roma killed as soldiers, during bombardments and air raids, and examined more archival material, these numbers might well add up to 500,000 (this being the number commonly cited by the Roma representatives, such as Romani Rose, president of the Zentralrat Deutscher Sinti und Roma). See M. Zimmermann, Rassenutopie und Genozid. Die nationalsozialistische ‘Lösung der Zigeunerfrage’ (Christians, Hamburg, 1996), pp. 381-383; D. Kenrick, G. Puxon, The Destiny of Europe’s Gypsies (Basic Books, N.Y., 1972), pp. 83-94; D. Kenrick, G. Puxon, Gypsies under the Swastika (University of Hertfordshire Press, Hatfield, 1995), p. 150; R. Rose, W. Weiss, Sinti und Roma im ‘Dritten Reich’. Das Programm der Vernichtung durch Arbeit (Lamuv, Göttingen, 1991), p. 176; W. Wippermann, ‘Wie die Zigeuner’ Antisemitismus und Antiziganismus im Vergleich (Elefanten, Berlin, 1997), p.167; G. Lewy, The Nazi Persecution of the Gypsies (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2000), pp. 221-222.

> Zimmermann, Rassenutopie und Genozid.

° U. Herbert, (ed.), Nationalsozialistische Vernichtungspolitik 1939-1945. Neue Forschungen und Kontroversen (Fischer, Frankfurt am Main, 1998).

7 W. Manoschek, ‘Die Vernichtung der Juden in Serbien’, in Herbert, Nationalsozialistische Vernichtungspolitik, pp. 209-234, here pp. 223-228; Michael Zimmermann’s contribution to this collection gives a very broad overview of the National Socialist persecution of Roma, with only about four pages on the mass shootings in the Soviet Union, occupied Poland and Serbia. M. Zimmermann, ‘Die nationalsozialistische “Lösung der Zigeunerfrage”’, Herbert, Nationalsozialistische Vernichtungspolitik, pp. 235-262.

8 This book concentrates on West Germany and later re-unified Germany, but leaves out the German Democratic Republic and Austria.

the beginning of a Roma civil rights movement in West Germany, formalised in February 1982 with the creation of the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma (Zentralrat Deutscher Sinti und Roma, henceforth referred to as ‘Central Council’) under the chairmanship of the Sinto Romani Rose, which went hand in hand with increasing attention being paid to ‘forgotten victims’ within West Germany. By looking at how the West German Wiedergutmachung? — i.e. the state compensation of individual Holocaust victims, along with the restitution of properties and possessions to victims of racial, religious and political persecution — affected Roma, this book uncovers not only how Roma were treated within the Wiedergutmachungs-apparatus, but also how these compensatory measures have been perceived by German Roma since the war. Through this we can understand how West Germany administered the attempt to compensate for the victims’ suffering. The case of the Roma shows in particular how the West German administration, officials, and legal apparatus defined and classified National Socialist injustice, and unveils where injustices and pejorative attitudes were allowed to continue.

The term ‘Wiedergutmachung? is in itself problematic. It is argued that crimes such as the extermination of an entire family can never be ‘made good again’, and that thus the term ‘Wiedergutmachung’ is a misnomer. Most works on Wiedergutmachung begin with a statement on this term’s moral inappropriateness, and the Hebrew expression for the West German compensation payments, Shilumim," carries with it no sense of exculpation.'! As Constantin Goschler has pointed out, the definition of ‘wiedergutmachen’ in the Grimmsche Worterbuch shows that the word can mean much the same as ‘ersetzen, bezahlen, sühnen’ (replace, repay, atone) — which are words that do not necessarily imply ‘forgiveness’. The German term was suggested by German-Jewish emigrants, and was first used by Siegfried Moses in 1943 in Tel Aviv, in an article entitled Die Wiedergutmachungsforderungen der Juden (Compensation Demands by the Jews). It is important to acknowledge that Wiedergutmachung has been used as a technical term by all sides involved in the process since the war, and has by now become an historical idiom in itself: a collective noun describing all payments made by West (and later re-unified) Germany. It is in this manner that Wiedergutmachung will be used throughout this work, without implying that the German state can, in reality, seek a historical redemption. The term

° Wiedergutmachung is a noun literally meaning ‘making good again’.

10 The term derives from shalem, meaning ‘to pay’; it is used in this conjugation only in the context of German payments to Israel.

1 D, Forster, ‘Wiedergutmachung’, in Österreich und der BRD im Vergleich (Studien, Innsbruck / Wien / München, 2001), p. 27.

2 The Grimmsche Wörterbuch is the most comprehensive German dictionary, started by the brothers Grimm in 1838, and taking over 120 years to be completed. See C. Goschler, Wiedergutmachung. Westdeutschland und die Verfolgten des Nationalsozialismus (1945-1954) (Oldenburg, München, 1992), p. 25.

B H. G. Hockerts, “Wiedergutmachung. Ein umstrittener Begriff und ein weites Feld’, in H. G. Hockerts, C. Kuller, (eds), Nach der Verfolgung. Wiedergutmachung nationalsozialistischen Unrechts in Deutschland? (Wallstein, Göttingen, 2003), pp. 7-34, here p. 10.

Wiedergutmachung encompasses all payments made by the West German government: to individuals, to other countries and to organisations representing victim groups. Thus, the term includes the restitution payments in relation to assets, compensation payments to German victims of National Socialism, global agreements with other countries (Israel and Western European countries in the 1950s and 1960s and Eastern European countries from the 1970s onwards), which intended to compensate non-German victims of National Socialism, and settlements specifically concerning social security payments. In a non-monetary sense, Wiedergutmachung also encompasses legal rehabilitation (i.e. the rectification of unlawful court decisions) particularly in the field of penal justice, but also, for example, the restoration of citizenships or academic titles.'* The overall financial implications of Wiedergutmachung for Germany were initially substantial. Until the early 1960s, the burden on the national economy was significant, with between 2.4 and 5.5 percent of the annual fiscal budget of the German Federal State (Bund) and the German federal states (Lander) being reserved for compensation payments between 1955 and 1959. From the mid-1960s this percentage decreased due to Germany’s successful economic growth and, since 1980, compensation payments have made up only about 0.5 percent of federal expenditure (a similar downward trend can be found at state level) .'* The former President of the Lower House of the German Parliament (Bundestag), Wolfgang Thierse, proclaimed in December 1998 that in the currency value of that day (i.e. taking inflation into account), a total of circa 108.5 billion Euros had been spent by West and later re-unified Germany on Wiedergutmachung." As compensation pensions are still being paid to victims of National Socialism, the exact cost to date of Wiedergutmachung cannot be established.

The latest available figures come from an August 2006 Federal Finance Ministry report, which puts the overall figure for compensation paid at 63.22 billion Euros by the end of 2005 (not taking inflation into account).!” Of this sum, 44.54 billion Euros were paid under the three Compensation Laws of 1953, 1956 and 1965 (each being an improvement/extension of the previous: the 1953 Supplemental Federal Compensation Law (Bundesergdnzungsgesetz— BErgG), the 1956 Federal Compensation Law (Bundesentschddigungsgesetz — BEG) and the 1965 Final Federal Compensation Law (Bundesentschädigungs-Schlußgesetz — BEG- S).'® A further 2.02 billion Euros were paid under the 1957 Federal Restitution

14 Hockerts, “Wiedergutmachung. Ein umstrittener Begriff und ein weites Feld’, p. 11.

15 K, Hefsdorfer, ‘Die finanzielle Dimension’, in L. Herbst, C. Goschler, (eds), Wiedergutmachung in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Oldenburg, München, 1989), p. 59.

1 H. G. Hockerts, “Wiedergutmachung in Deutschland. Eine historische Bilanz 1945-2000’, in K. Doering, B. Fehn, H. G. Hockerts, Jahrhundertschuld, Jahrhundertsühne: Reparationen, Wiedergutmachung, Entschädigung für nationalsozialistisches Kriegs- und Verfolgungsunrecht (Olzog, München, 2001), p. 142.

7 Bundesministerium der Finanzen, Entschädigung von NS-Unrecht. Regelungen zur Wiedergutmachung (Berlin, August 2006), p. 37.

18 18.9.1953: Bundesergänzungsgesetz zur Entschädigung für Opfer der nationalsozialistischen Verfolgung (BErgG) (Supplementary Law for the Compensation of the Victims of National Socialist Persecution), in Bundesgesetzblatt 1953, Teil I, Band 2, pp. 1387-1408; 29.6.1956: Bundesgesetz zur

Law (Bundesrückerstattungsgesetz — BRüG). The post-re-unification Law for the Compensation of NS Persecutees (NS-Verfolgtenentschädigungsgesetz) amounted to 1.22 billion Euros, the 1952 Luxembourg Agreement with Israel was worth 1.76 billion Euros,” other global agreements amounted to 1.46 billion Euros, and the Foundation ‘Remembrance, Responsibility and Future’ created by the re-unified German government and German industry in 2000% amounted to 2.56 billion Euros. Other compensation-related payments made up for the remainder.*! For the sake of comparison, a total of 130 billion German Marks (c. 65 billion Euros) were paid in connection with the Equalisation of Burdens Law (Lastenausgleichsgesetz). This law paid compensation to Germans who suffered financial damage as a result of the war (e.g. bomb victims, Germans fleeing former German territories in Eastern Europe) or as a result of the 1948 Currency Reform.” Whilst this figure is comparable to that of the Wiedergutmachungspayments,” the number of recipients — 20 million people — was much larger (1.5 million victims received compensation under the Federal Compensation Law), and thus the sums individuals received under the Equalisation of Burdens Law were smaller.”