Germany and Its Gypsies: A Post-Auschwitz Ordeal

4. Compensation Policy toward Gypsy Victims of Nazism

4 Compensation Policy toward Gypsy Victims of Nazism A fter winning the war, the Allies forced Germany to offer assistance and compensation to the victims of Nazism who had been persecuted for political, religious, or racial reasons.1 A specific demand to compensate Gypsy victims was never presented by the Allies, as was done with regard to Jewish victims, but the German obligation to compensate this group derived from the general demands of the Allies. The policy of recognizing Gypsies as victims of Nazi persecution, a policy that was designed and consolidated by the welfare and compensation government authorities in Germany through involvement of the Allies, was a compromise. It combined the need to respond in principle to the Allies’ demands and the need to consider the opposition to compensating Gypsies that was prevalent among both the German officials and many former political prisoners. While no one in the German welfare and compensation divisions questioned that the persecution of Jews derived from racist motives, as early as 1945 many officials and former political prisoners argued that Gypsies were persecuted by the Nazis not for racist motives, which would have entitled the victims to be officially regarded as “victims of Nazism,” but for being asocial. The German government authorities and society at large regarded asociality as a crime, against which every proper government ought to act, and did not perceive the persecution of Gypsies as a typically Nazi one. The Nazi persecution of Jews was implemented after decades in which Jews had been regarded as ordinary citizens and were fully integrated members of society; that of Gypsies continued a policy from the late 83 Germany and Its Gypsies fifteenth century when Gypsies were regarded as a “delinquent group”— and this attitude remained acceptable from that time on, even during the democratic Weimar Republic. The barbaric and murderous nature of the Nazis’ treatment was not a sufficient reason to convince most officials and even many former political prisoners that there was a substantial difference between the persecution of Gypsies in the past and that which had occurred under the Nazis. This undermined the racial motive for Gypsy persecution and denied many Gypsies their recognition by the authorities as victims of Nazism, and thus they were excluded from eligibility for special welfare and compensation for their persecution and suffering . The history of this recognition policy toward Gypsies from 1945 to 1965 is one of discrimination and denial. This chapter concentrates on the years 1945–1953, during which the policies of the welfare and compensation authorities in the two postwar German states—the FRG and the GDR—were designed and consolidated . It ends when the dispute among the compensation authorities in the FRG on the question of eligibility of Gypsies to be recognized as victims of Nazism was decided in favor of the harsh approach, which then denied them their due recognition and compensation. In the early 1950s, the debate over the Gypsies’ recognition shifted from the compensation authorities to the legal system, which heard appeals by Gypsies against the authorities that had not recognized them as victims of Nazism. The compensation authorities of the FRG did not recognize Gypsies as victims of Nazism until they were forced to do so by the supreme court rulings of 1956 and 1963.2 The way in which the FRG’s legal system dealt with this question will be discussed in chapter 5. At the end of the 1960s, the authorities in the GDR also showed a willingness to correct the injustice inflicted on Gypsies from the earliest years of Soviet occupation by the discriminatory recognition policy that had been established with regard to them.3 welfare and compensation authorities for the victims of nazism Many victims of Nazism had not previously been clients of the German welfare authorities, but they became such when they were released from concentration camps. Many of them had nowhere else to go, and they needed basic help in securing food, clothing, housing, medical care, and in finding employment, as well as general financial help. Many of the former prisoners now crowded the community welfare offices, which were overwhelmed with the number of applicants: released prisoners, Wehrmacht soldiers, and German refugees from the East.4 In the face of the heavy distress of the victims of Nazism, and wanting to distinguish 84 Compensation Policy toward Gypsy Victims of Nazism between them and...