How did people persecuted by the National Socialist regime and their descendants receive compensation? Did they get back their former property? How did „Wiedergutmachung” look like after the fall of the National Socialist regime? 

The new podcast „The German Wiedergutmachung” tries to answer these and other questions. Well aware of the fact that the Nazi crimes and terror will never be “good again”, the difficult term „Wiedergutmachung“ describes the efforts to take responsibility for crimes committed by the National Socialist regime, not least from a material perspective.

By the help of interview partners from the academic sphere and from society and by fascinating documents kept by the Federal Archives, the podcast – click here to listen – unveils the complex background of “Wiedergutmachung”.

Listeners may find out more about the multiple facets of this policy and accompany the victims on their exhausting way through the instances. The first episodes take a closer look on restitution claims for seized property, on agreements to compensate Nazi persecutees in Western Europe and on the belated Wiedergutmachung for persecuted Sinti and Roma as an example of the so-called “forgotten victims”.

“The German Wiedergutmachung” is a production for the Online Collection “Wiedergutmachung for National Socialist Injustice” – a digital research platform for Wiedergutmachung records. It has been realized on behalf of the Federal Archives by “Escucha – Kultur fürs Ohr” and is funded by the Federal Ministry of Finance.

The podcast can be listened to via all common streaming platforms (Spotify, Apple Podcast, Deezer etc.).
Find further background information, documents and transcripts of the individual episodes here.