The first version of the Online Collection – Compensation for National Socialist Injustice has been online for six months now. As we are constantly working on improving our service, a lot has happened since then. The half-year anniversary of the Online Collection is a good opportunity for an overview of minor and major changes since the release and for an outlook on what you can expect in the near future.

The regularly expanded holdings overview now includes the relevant holdings of all state archives, i.e. from the 16 federal states and from the federal government. The overview is kept up to date continuously thanks to the feedback from our data partners. A look at the various pages – both topic- and provenance-related – is therefore always worthwhile.

New content is regularly being added to the "Further Information" section. While the "Bibliography" section has now been expanded to include specifically English- and French-speaking literature references, the continuously refreshed list of the latest publications in the field of compensation always keeps you up to date. The numerous PDFs with legal texts (acts, agreements and ordinances) in the "Legislation" section are now barrier-free accessible and searchable. In addition, in 2023 a chronological overview will illustrate the milestones of compensation policy and put them into the larger context of contemporary historical events. A new "Statistics" section with materials on numerous aspects of compensation will also encourage in-depth study of the topic. Links to other related collections and databases are planned too, as well as a "News" section set up specifically for the Online Collection.

We are currently working on a full English translation of the collection. It is still work in progress, but in the near future the entire interface will be available in both languages.

Plans are already being made for the longer-term development of the Online Collection. Among other things, we are addressing the following issues: What are the respective needs of the different user groups? How can a user-friendly search mask be designed that enables a targeted name- and topic-related search? Which further materials and services for historical education can we offer? These are only some of the central issues that the Federal Ministry of Finance and the cooperation partners responsible for the development of the Online Collection - State Archives of Baden-Wuerttemberg, FIZ Karlsruhe and Federal Archives - addressed during a three-day workshop in Jerusalem in November. In a productive exchange with the World Holocaust Remembrance Center Yad Vashem, the participants could benefit from the experiences there and create a common basis for a more intensive cooperation.