The EVZ Foundation's founding history

Signing of the intergovernmental agreement

The Law on the Creation of the Foundation Remembrance, Responsibility and Future (EVZ) was passed on August 2, 2000 with the support of all the political groups in the German Bundestag at that time. The law was a legal and moral milestone, enabling individual humanitarian payments to be paid to former forced laborers and others affected by the injustices of National Socialism while ensuring that the memory of the maltreatment inflicted on them would be preserved for future generations.  

Charlotte Knobloch

Victims feel that recognition of the suffering they have endured is just as important as 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.

Confronting NS forced labor and tracing the Foundation’s history – 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. 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. 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. 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.

  10. 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.

  11. 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.

  12. 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.

  13. Law on the Creation of the EVZ Foundation

    dive in deeper

    You will find more information on our website on the Foundation’s history.

Foundation history