On Friday, November 14, the results of the project “Learning from Files” were presented at the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site. 

Over the past two years, the “Verband Deutscher Sinti und Roma, Landesverband Bayern e.V. (VDSR)” (Association of German Sinti and Roma, Bavarian Regional Association (VDSR)), together with the Department of History Education at Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, has been taking a closer look at the compensation files of the Bavarian VDSR. The project was funded by the EVZ Foundation as part of the “Educational Agenda on Nazi Injustice.” The goal was to digitize and describe the compensation files and to evaluate them. In addition, materials for non-school educational work has been created.

The project focused on over 660 compensation files from the VDSR, which has been providing legal support and representation to applicants, particularly in compensation proceedings, since the 1980s. The files document the Nazi persecution of Sinti and Roma from East Prussia, Pomerania, and Silesia, among other places, and how these cases were handled in the context of compensation. The files are also important sources for the history of compensation practices in the Federal Republic of Germany because they supplement the records of the state archives with the perspective of the applicants. In particular, they document the so-called “second persecution” to which many applicants were subjected: Sinti and Roma were often stigmatized in the compensation proceedings of the 1950s and 1960s. The results of the evaluation can be found in the edited volume “Entschädigung von NS-Unrecht an deutschen Sinti und Roma in Bayern. Historische Forschung, Entschädigungsarbeit und Erfahrungen“.

Several paradigmatic cases from the digitized and described files were processed as educational materials for use in memorial sites, universities, and public authorities. They reflect both the history of compensation and the perspectives of the applicants, as well as the administrative practices of the compensation offices. These source-based materials have been published here: Entschädigung von NS-Unrecht an deutschen Sinti und Roma. Didaktische Materialien für die außerschulische Bildungsarbeit.

The files held by the VDSR are to be made available on the Online Collection “Wiedergutmachung” in the future. However, this will only be possible once the legal access restriction have expired. In addition, self-organizations such as the VDSR consider it a top priority to guarantee the protection of the personal rights of those affected, which must also be legally secured for the future.

Markus Metz, research assistant at the VDSR, also appeared as an expert on the third episode of the podcast “The German Wiedergutmachung.” Here, you can hear more about compensation for Sinti and Roma: Listen here