The "Remembrance, Responsibility and the Future" Foundation
After tedious negotiations the basis was created to make financial compensation available to millions of forced labourers who worked during the NS regime and the Second World War in both the Deutsche Reich and in those occupied territories as well as to other NS victims in addition to the hitherto restitution provided under the agreement between the Federal Republic of Germany and the United States of America which came into force under the "Remembrance, Responsibility and the Future" Foundation of 17th July 2000 and the management of the "Remembrance and Future" legislation to set up a "Remembrance, Responsibility and the Future" Foundation in the version of the 1st Amendment Law of 4th August 2001. The Federal Republic of Germany and the German industry is to make a total amount of 10 billion deutschmarks (approx. 5.11 billion EURO) available each to the same extent.
Above all, the law makes provisions for benefits to former male and female forced labourers but in this case differentiation is made between former prisoners in a concentration camp or ghetto, who were forced to work and those deported persons used as slave labour in a commercial enterprise or in a public authority. Apart from this, a possibility was given to also grant NS victims other than those expressly mentioned in the legislation and above all to deported forced labourers working in agriculture.
Furthermore, provisions have been made to compensate other damages to persons particularly in cases of medical experiments or damage to health to a child lodged in a home for children of forced labourers. Finally provisions have been also made for compensation for specific pecuniary losses caused by persecution in which the German economy was directly involved and above all for insurance losses as a result of persecution.
Over and above these individual claims for compensation the "Remembrance and the Future" Foundation as a result of the foundation legislation is also to make monies available for the "Remembrance and the Future" Foundation. This foundation is active as promoting charity and supports projects for confrontation with witnesses of that era and the psychosocial and medical care of former NS victims, for historical and humanitarian matters as well as scholarship programs.
The processing of individual claims for compensation has been put in the hands of several partner organisations. Such organisations are for claimants who had their principal domicile in Poland, White Russia, the Republic of Czechia, Estland, Lettland, Litau or the Republic of Moldau on the 16th February 1999 are the founda-tions set up in these states under "Communication and Reconciliation", the Jewish Claims Conference (JCC) for other Jewish claimants and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) for other non-Jewish claimants.
The payment of compensation benefits follows in two share to ensure correct distribution of the funds available. The Federal German Fund is to be made available to the partner organisations to a total amount of 1442 million EURO for 2424 billion EURO (or 4740 billion deutschmarks) by mid September 2003.
Under the following Internet addresses you will find details of the procedures and the current status of the claims in process: