The German Wiedergutmachung

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

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.

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.