NO TIME TO FORGET

25 Years Foundation Remembrance, Responsibility and Future

When the Foundation Remembrance, Responsibility and Future (EVZ) was established on August 2, 2000, with the support of all parliamentary groups in the Bundestag at the time, it marked a historic and moral turning point. Germany thus faced up to its responsibility towards millions of people who had been forced to perform hard labor during the Nazi era or had suffered grave injustices in other ways.   

The foundation created a legal framework for paying humanitarian benefits to former forced laborers, preserving the memory of Nazi injustice for future generations, and promoting international projects of reconciliation and international understanding.  

The road to establishing the EVZ foundation was long. It was preceded by decades of silence, legal disputes, and political hesitation. The establishment of the EVZ Foundation was a belated response to increasing national and international pressure and persistent demands from survivors. It was also an attempt to ward off class action lawsuits. The state, business, and society—the beneficiaries of Nazi forced labor—jointly assumed political and moral responsibility for this widespread Nazi crime.  

Today, the EVZ Foundation develops and promotes international projects and initiatives that keeps remembrance alive, strengthen democratic values, and support civic engagement. Together with partners in Germany, Central and Eastern Europe, and Israel, it creates spaces for historical and political education as well as work critical of Antisemitism and Antigypsyism, and supports young people in recognizing discrimination and resolutely opposing it.