In June 2000 the German Bundestag passed the Law for the Creation of a new Foundation “Remembrance, Responsibility and Future”. One of the purposes of the Foundation is to make financial compensation available to former victims of fascism. Analogous to this law the Austrian government also passed a Law for the Payment of Financial Compensation. As already before, the partner organizations in Russia, Ukraine and Belorus will be represented by the Foundations of Mutual Understanding and Reconciliation. The contract address of the Russian Foundation runs as follows: 121069, Moscow, P.O. Box 148, Stolovyi per., 6.
The deadline for registration of claims for financial compensation is limited to the 31st of December, 2001. It is therefore most essential that you or a person authorized by you fill in the requisite application form without delay and immediately send it (by registered letter and reply coupon for the acknowledgement of receipt) to the Foundation of Mutual Understanding and Reconciliation. The printed questionnaire and application forms are avaolable from the local departments of social protection of the population. Please keep in mind that it is most important not to put the filling in of the applications off till later. However, you are not obliged to immediately submit all necessary documentation; in case you do not have all required attestations at hand, you may send them in later, i.e. as soon as you received them from the archives.
According to the existing arrangements made with the Foundation of Mutual Understanding and Reconciliation the employees of the local institutions for the social protection of the population are duty bound to give all kind of advice and information about the steps you have to undertake and to assist you with the completion of the application blanks enabling you to obtain a compensation payment. They are also obliged to help you with the clarification of questions and problems that may occur in connection with the search for documents or the procuring of the same.
To obtain from the archives documents certifying your eligibility for recompensation payments, you have to send them a written inquiry.
In case you were subjected to forced labor in Germany or on the territory of other countries, you may contact the following institutions to obtain the needed documentation of your eligibility:
If, after the return to your homeland, you were arrested and sentenced and are therefore now in need of your rehabilitation, then you have to direct yourselves to the Public Prosecutors of the Russian Federation (103793, Moscow, ul. Bol. Dmitrovka, 15 a). In case you intend to send your inquiries to the Information Center of the Administration of the Interior and to the Public Prosecutors, you have to indicate your family name, first names, father’s name (maiden name, if applicable), as well as the year and place of your birth.
Those victims who have already earlier contacted the departments of the social protection of the population or directly addressed themselves to the Foundation of Mutual Understanding and Reconciliation and who have already presented documentation for their eligibility, do not have to send all these papers in again. In such a case you merely have to fill in the application for compensation and, if necessary, additional attestations to put the matter more precisely.
The international “Memorial” organization created a data bank, which includes the names and addresses of about 400.000 former “Ostarbeiter” (Eastern Workers). Owing to the information we keep in our data bank, a great number of people succeeded in finding each other again, were able to locate and visit the burial places of friends and relatives and receive humanitarian aid from Europe. For that reason we are of the opinion that the existence and completion of such a data bank mean an important task. If you want to be included in this data bank, you have to send a letter to our “Memorial” organization informing us about your family, first and father’s names (maiden name, if applicable), the exact date of birth (day, month, year), the place of birth, as well as the place from where you were deported to germany. The letter should also contain as many details as possible about your stay in Germany. Please also let us know the address of your permanent residence. The registration in our data bank is voluntary and free of charge.
Yelena SHEMKOVA, Executive Director
“Krasnoyarskiy rabochiy”, 05.12.2001