Origins of the EVZ Foundation

Signing of the intergovernmental agreement

On August 2, 2000, with the support of all political groups in the German Bundestag, the Law on the Creation of a Foundation Remembrance, Responsibility and Future was passed. It marks a moral and legal turning point: The law provided for individual humanitarian payments to be made to former forced labourers and other victims of National Socialism. The mission of the EVZ Foundation is to keep the memory of National Socialist persecution alive, to accept responsibility in the here and now, and to actively shape it for the future and for subsequent generations.

About the EVZ Foundation Statutes

Charlotte Knobloch

Victims feel that recognition of the suffering they have endured is just as important as the financial compensation.
Charlotte Knobloch
President of the Jewish Community of Munich and Upper Bavaria on the start of payments to NS forced laborers in 2000

Milestones for reappraisal and for the Foundation’s history as a timeline

  1. NS forced labor

    In the German Reich, an estimated 13 million people had to do forced labor between 1939 and 1945; another 13 million people in the occupied and controlled territories. Forced labor was ubiquitous and took place almost everywhere.

  2. Federal Compensation Act

    After the liberation, many forced laborers suffered physically and psychologically. Individual claims for compensation or back pay were denied. The Federal Compensation Act of 1953 excluded from its services those living abroad and those who were not racially or politically persecuted.

  3. Forced labor protest

    First Payments

    In order to promote integration into the West, Germany made payments to individual states (so-called global agreements) – but no individual compensations. In 1952, DM 3.5 billion were payed to Israel. Between 1959 and 1964, a total of DM 900 million went to several Western European countries.

  4. Wollheim trial

    The Wollheim Suit

    The claim for damages by Norbert Wollheim is considered a test case and first lawsuit by a former forced laborer. In the course of the trial, IG Farben, the plaintiff and the Jewish Claims Conference agreed on compensation for former forced laborers in the amount of DM 30 million.

  5. Law on the Creation of the EVZ Foundation

    Public Pressure

    In the 1990s, political initiatives and pressure from the US brought the subject of compensation for forced laborers into the public discourse. In 1998, the German Bundestag agreed to set up a foundation for the compensation of forced labor with the financial participation of the German economy.

  6. Agreement on compensation

    Federal President Johannes Rau announced the agreement on compensation for NS Forced Labor. In his address, he asked for forgiveness for the injustices committed. More than 25 million people were deported for the purpose of forced labor in the German Reich or in occupied countries between 1939-1945.

  7. Signing of the Agreement

    On July 17, 2000, Germany signed an agreement with the US Government and entered into an international agreement with Israel, Central and Eastern European states, German industry and claims lawyers. The German Government and German industry each agreed to contribute DM 5 billion to the Foundation.

  8. Signing of the intergovernmental agreement

    Law comes into force

    On August 2, 2000, with the support of all political groups in the German Bundestag, the Law on the Creation of a Foundation Remembrance, Responsibility and Future was passed. It provided for individual humanitarian payments to former forced laborers and other victims of National Socialism.

     

  9. Initial capital

    The Foundation’s initial capital of EUR 5.2 billion was provided by the German Government and Germany industry. A total of approximately 6,500 companies have participated in the foundation Initiative of the German industry.

  10. Partner organisations

    On June 13, 2001, the first payment was made to the Czech partner organization (German-Czech Future Fund) in the amount of DM 55,612,425. Seven international partner organisations helped process the applications and were responsible for the payments.

  11. Humanitarian projects

    In September 2001, the EVZ Foundation approved the first funding project in its history:
    the association AMCHA received EUR 414,138 for humanitarian purposes. This supported Holocaust survivors in Israel by means of home visits by psychologists as well as social workers.

  12. Applications and Payments

    Up to the end of 2006, a total of EUR 4.36 billion was paid out to 1.6 million former forced labourers or their legal successors in 98 countries. Payments were also made for property losses, insurance losses and personal injury in connection with National Socialist injustice.

  13. Conclusion of paymens

    On June 12, 2007, the payments procedure was formally concluded at an official ceremony hosted by German President Horst Köhler and attended by the German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

  14. Archive Forced Labour

    The internet archive "Forced Labour 1939–1945" commemorates the people who were forced to work for Nazi Germany. Almost 600 former forced labourers from 26 countries tell their stories in extensive audio and video interviews.

  15. Im Januar 2013 wurde die Ausstellung im Königsschloss Warschau unter Anwesenheit ehemaliger polnischer Zwangsarbeiter:innen eröffnet

    Forced Labor Exhibition

    The touring exhibition "Forced Labor. The Germans, the Forced Laborers and the War" of the Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorials Foundation was on display from 2010 to 2017. EVZ Foundation has provided it with funding of four million euros. A permanent exhibition is planned in Weimar from 2024.

  16. Ten years of EVZ Foundation

    The EVZ Foundation celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2010. The anniversary was accompanied by festivities and an exhibition on the Foundation’s history.

  17. Joint study

    A publication of the Working Group for the Improvement of Participation in Education and the Educational Success of Sinti and Roma appeared in September 2015. It was the first study to be produced together with experts from Roma and Sinti organizations. EVZ Foundation follows their recommendations.

  18. Grafik:Täter:innen, Opfer oder Helfer:innen?

    MEMO Study

    With "MEMO Germany - Multidimensional Memory Monitor", the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research on Conflict and Violence Bielefeld (IKG) has been researching since 2018 what, how and for what citizens of Germany historically remember. 

  19. Strategic reconfiguration

    As part of the Agenda for the Future, new formats were developed. A core element is the Educational Agenda on NS Injustice, funded by the Federal Ministry of Finance. It aims to address current challenges with a historically aware, active communication of the lessons learned from the NS history.

2021

Payments to former forced labourers

The Foundation capital amounting to DM 10.1 billion (EUR 5.2 billion) was provided by the foundation initiative of the German industry and the Federal Government in equal amounts. The amounts paid out by the EVZ Foundation went to recipients in 98 countries around the world.

Cooperation with partner organizations

The payments were made in cooperation with seven international partner organizations that processed the applications. By 2006, a total of EUR 4.4 billion had been paid out to more than 1.66 million former forced labourers, and around EUR 270 million to other victim groups. 

The way to establishing the Foundation

In the German Reich, an estimated 13 million people had to do forced labor between 1939 and 1945; another 13 million people in the occupied and controlled territories. Those affected often had to work under inhumane conditions, many died while working.

After the liberation, many forced laborers suffered from the physical and psychological consequences of forced labor. Individual claims for compensation or back pay were denied. With only a few exceptions, the German governments as wells as the small and large companies, churches and private households that benefited from forced labor rejected any responsibility. The Federal Compensation Act, which came into force in 1953, largely excluded from its services those living abroad and those who were not racially or politically persecuted.

First agreements

In the London Agreement on German External Debts of 1953, the settlement of individual claims by foreign citizens was linked to the conclusion of a peace treaty (therefore excluding individual compensation).

In order to promote integration into the West, the Federal Republic of Germany made payments to individual states in the form of so-called global agreements – individual former forced laborers were not compensated. In 1952, the Federal Republic paid Israel DM 3.5 billion as material development aid. Between 1959 and 1964, a total of DM 900 million went to several Western European countries. During this phase, several large companies also made their first compensation payments to the Jewish Claims Conference.

Wollheim trial

Wollheim trial's action

The Wollheim Suit

This took place after the first successful trials, such as the so-called Wollheim trial. The claim for damages by the former forced laborer Norbert Wollheim is considered a test case. It was the first lawsuit by a former forced laborer. In the course of the trial, IG Farben, the plaintiff and the Jewish Claims Conference agreed on compensation for former forced laborers (Jewish and non-Jewish) in the amount of DM 30 million.

Repression behind the Iron Curtain

Many victims were unable to make their voices heard for several reasons: until the end of the 1980s, a large number lived in the Eastern Bloc countries behind the Iron Curtain, largely shielded from Western states. In the Soviet Union, former forced laborers were not considered victims but collaborators for a long time. Therefore, out of fear of repression (by the state), most of them remained silent. Furthermore, many were traumatized by the experience and were therefore unable to talk about it.

German reunification and global agreement

Identifying as an anti-fascist state, the newly founded German Democratic Republic rejected any compensation for foreign victims of National Socialist persecution. After the German reunification in 1990, global agreements with Poland (500 million DM) and with Belarus, Ukraine & Russia (one billion DM in total) followed as part of the Two Plus Four Agreement. Russia and Belarus also had to take into account the victims of National Socialism in the now sovereign Baltic states. With these payments, the German government and economy saw their responsibility as fulfilled at the time.

Late recognition

It was not until the end of the 20th century that the compensation for forced laborers again became part of a national and international public discourse. The first political initiatives from Bündnis 90/Die Grünen (Alliance 90/The Greens), the European Parliament or Action Reconciliation Service for Peace initially had no effect. Continuous pressure in and from the USA brought further movement into the discussion at the end of the 1990s. In 1998, the political groups in the German Bundestag agreed to set up a foundation for the compensation of forced labor with the financial participation of the German economy.

Law on the Creation of the EVZ Foundation

Establishing the Foundation

On July 17, 2000, an intergovernmental agreement between Germany and the USA was signed. It created legal certainty and protected German companies from class action suits in the USA. The USA, Germany and six other states as well as victims’ associations and lawyers signed a joint final declaration on the establishment of the Foundation Remembrance, Responsibility and Future (EVZ), which became the sole point of contact for all claims.

On June 13, 2001, the first payment was made to the Czech partner organization (German-Czech Future Fund). In the course of June 2001, further payments to Poland, Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, the Jewish Claims Conference and the International Organization for Migration were initiated. The payments were made in cooperation with seven international partner organizations – organizations in the respective countries, civil society organizations. Between 2001 and 2007, EUR 4.4 billion were paid to 1.66 million former forced laborers and legal successors.

20 years EVZ Foundation

In 2020 the EVZ Foundation celebrated its 20th anniversary. The founding of the Foundation Remembrance, Responsibility and Future marks a turning point in our culture of remembrance – the state, the private sector, and society assumed political and moral responsibility for the suffering of forced laborers of the Nazi regime of injustice. The work of the EVZ Foundation bears responsibility for the suffering of the millions of forced laborers not only in its name but also in its agenda for the future.

Questions about the origins?  

Numbers on the foundation's 20 years of history

  • 5,668

    projects were supported by EVZ Foundation in the past 20 years

  • 157,134,342.06 Euro

    was the total funding volume by 2020

  • 2,187

    partner organisations had the EVZ Foundation in its 20 years of history

Publication

Links

Contact persons

Martin Bock

Consultant to the Board of Directors

Tel.: +49 (0)30 25 92 97-48
E-Mail: bock@stiftung-evz.de

Katrin Kowark

Head of Communications

Tel.: +49 (0)30 25 92 97-24
E-Mail: kowark@stiftung-evz.de