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The Law on the Creation of a Foundation
"Remembrance, Responsibility and Future"
of 2 August 2000, which entered into force on 12 August 2000
(Federal Law Gazette: BGBl. 2000 I 1263)
as amended on ……; the amended version entered into force on ……(BGBl. 2000
I ……)
Preamble
Recognizing
that the National Socialist State inflicted severe injustice on slave
laborers and forced laborers, through deportation, internment, exploitation
which in some cases extended to destruction through labor, and through
a large number of other human rights violations,
that German enterprises which participated in the National Socialist injustice
bear a historic responsibility and must accept it,
that the enterprises which have come together in the Foundation Initiative
of German Industry have acknowledged this responsibility,
that the injustice committed and the human suffering it caused cannot
be truly compensated by financial payments,
that the Law comes too late for those who lost their lives as victims
of the National Socialist régime or have died in the meantime,
the German Bundestag acknowledges political and moral responsibility for
the victims of National Socialism. The Bundestag intends to keep alive
the memory of the injustice inflicted on the victims for coming generations
as well.
The German Bundestag presumes that this Law, the German-U.S. intergovernmental
agreement, the accompanying statements of the U.S. Government as well
as the Joint Declaration by all parties to the negotiations provide adequate
legal security for German enterprises and the Federal Republic of Germany,
especially in the United States of America.
With the concurrence of the Bundesrat, the Bundestag has passed the following
Law:
Section 1: Establishment and Headquarters
(1) A legally recognized foundation with the name "Remembrance, Responsibility
and Future" shall be established under public law. The Foundation comes
into being as of the entry into force of this legislation.
(2) The headquarters of the Foundation shall be in Berlin.
Section 2: Purpose of the Foundation
(1) The purpose of the Foundation is to make financial compensation available
through partner organizations to former forced laborers and to those affected
by other injustices from the National Socialist period.
(2) A "Remembrance and Future" fund will be established within the Foundation.
Its continuing task is to use the income produced by the means provided
to the Foundation to foster projects that serve the purposes of better
understanding among peoples, the interests of survivors of the National
Socialist régime, youth exchange, social justice, remembrance of the threat
posed by totalitarian systems and despotism, and international cooperation
in humanitarian endeavors. In commemoration and respect of those victims
of National Socialist injustice who did not survive, it is also intended
to further projects in the interest of their heirs.
Section 3: Donors and the Foundation's Capital Assets
(1) Contributors to the Foundation's capital fund shall be the companies
joined together in the Foundation Initiative of German Industry, and the
Federal Government.
(2) The Foundation shall be endowed with a capital fund consisting of
the following:
1. Five billion deutschmarks that the companies joined together in the
Foundation Initiative of German industry have agreed to make available,
including the payments that German insurance companies have provided to
the International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims or will
provide in the future.
2. Five billion deutschmarks that the German Federal Government is making
available in the year 2000. The contribution of the Federal Government
includes the contributions of enterprises of which the Federal Government
is sole owner or in which it has a majority interest.
(3) There is no obligation for the donors to make supplementary payments.
(4) The Foundation is authorized to accept contributions from third parties.
It shall endeavor to obtain additional contributions. The contributions
are exempt from inheritance tax and gift tax.
(5) Income from the Foundation's capital fund and other income is to be
used only for the purposes of the Foundation.
Section 4: The Bodies of the Foundation
The bodies of the Foundation are:
1. the Board of Trustees.
2. the Board of Directors.
Section 5: The Board of Trustees
(1) The Board of Trustees is made up of 27 members, namely:
1. the chairman, to be named by the German Chancellor;
2. four members to be named by the companies joined together in the Foundation
Initiative of German Industry;
3. five members to be named by the German Bundestag and two by the Bundesrat;
4. one representative of the Federal Ministry of Finance;
5. one representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs;
6. one member to be named by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims
against Germany;
7. one member to be named by the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma,
the Alliance of German Sinti, and the International Romani Union;
8. one member to be named by the Government of the State of Israel;
9. one member to be named by the Government of the United States of America;
10. one member to be named by the Government of the Republic of Poland;
11. one member to be named by the Government of the Russian Federation;
12. one member to be named by the Government of Ukraine;
13. one member to be named by the Government of the Republic of Belarus;
14. one member to be named by the Government of the Czech Republic;
15. one lawyer to be named by the Government of the United States of America;
16. one member to be named by the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR);
17. one member to be named by the International Organization for Migration
(IOM) in accordance with Section 9, Paragraph 2, Number 6; and
18. one member to be named by the Federal Information and Counseling Association
for Victims of National Socialism e. V. [Registered Association].
The sending body may designate a substitute for each member of the Board
[which it names].
A different composition of the Board of Trustees may be decided by a unanimous
decision of the Board of Trustees.
(2) The term of office for members of the Board of Trustees shall be four
years. If a member should resign before the end of his term, a successor
may be appointed for the remainder of the term. The members of the Board
of Trustees can be recalled by the sending body at any time.
(3) The Board of Trustees shall establish its own rules of procedure.
(4) The presence of half the membership of the Board of Trustees plus
one shall constitute a quorum. The board shall make decisions on the basis
of a simple majority. In case of a tie, the vote of the chairman shall
determine the outcome.
(5) The Board of Trustees has the right to decide on all fundamental matters
that have to do with the tasks of the Foundation, specifically with regard
to budgetary plans, the annual report, and the existence of the specific
characteristics referred to in Section 12, Paragraph 1. It monitors the
performance of the Board of Directors.
(6) The Board of Trustees makes decisions regarding the projects of the
"Remembrance and Future" Fund based on proposals by the Board of Directors.
(7) The Board of Trustees establishes guidelines for the use of resources
insofar as their use is not already specified in this Law. In this connection,
it shall particularly endeavor to see to it that the partner organizations
are able to draw in fair shares upon the eligibilities for payment referred
to in Section 11, Paragraph 1, Sentence 1, Numbers 1 and 2.
(8) Members of the Board of Trustees serve in a "pro bono" capacity; necessary
expenses will be reimbursed.
Section 6: The Board of Directors of the Foundation
(1) The Board of Directors shall consist of the chairman and two additional
members. Members of the Board of Trustees may not at the same time belong
to the Board of Directors.
(2) The members of the Board of Directors will be named by the Board of
Trustees.
(3) The Board of Directors shall direct the day-to-day business of the
Foundation and shall implement the decisions of the Board of Trustees.
It is responsible for distributing the resources of the Foundation to
the partner organizations and for the management of the "Remembrance and
Future" fund. It oversees the purposeful and prudent expenditure of the
Foundation's funds, in particular adherence by the partner organizations
to the provisions of this Law and the guidelines established by the Board
of Trustees for the use of its funds. The Board of Directors shall represent
the Foundation, both in judicial and extrajudicial matters.
(4) The details shall be determined by the by-laws.
Section 7: The By-laws
The Board of Trustees shall adopt a set of by-laws by a two-thirds majority
vote. If a set of by-laws has still not been adopted within three months
of the initial meeting of the Board of Trustees, the chairman shall propose
a set of by-laws that will be passed by a simple majority. The Board of
Trustees may amend the by-laws on the basis of a two-thirds majority.
Section 8: Oversight, Budget, Auditing
(1) The Foundation is subject to legal oversight by the Federal Ministry
of Finance; starting with the second period in office of the Board of
Trustees, it shall be subject to legal oversight by the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs.
(2) The Foundation shall prepare a budget in timely fashion before the
start of each fiscal year. The budget shall require the approval of the
Federal Ministry of Finance.
(3) The Foundation shall be subject to being audited by the Federal Court
of Audit. Without prejudice hereto, the Foundation's accounts and the
management of its budget and finances are to be audited by the Federal
Office for the Settlement of Open Property Matters.
Section 9: Use of Foundation Resources
(1) Resources of the Foundation that serve the purpose of the Foundation
referred to in Section 2, Paragraph 1, will be allocated to partner organizations.
They are to be used for one-time payments to persons eligible pursuant
to Section 11, as well as for covering the personnel and non-personnel
expenses of the partner organizations. Persons eligible under Section
11, Paragraph 1, Sentence 1, Number 1 or Sentence 5 can receive up to
15,000 deutschmarks, and persons eligible under Section 11, Paragraph
1, Sentence 1, Number 2, or Sentence 2 can receive up to 5,000 deutschmarks.
Receiving a payment under Section 11, Paragraph 1, Sentence 1, Number
1 or 2 does not preclude receiving a payment under Section 11, Paragraph
1, Sentence 1, Number 3 or Sentence 4 or 5.
(2) The partner organizations shall have available 8.1 billion deutschmarks
including 50 million deutschmarks in accrued interest for payments to
persons who suffered personal damage as referred to in Section 11, Paragraph
1, Sentence 1, Numbers 1 and 2, and Section 11, Paragraph 1, Sentence
2, insofar as [the payments are] intended for compensation for forced
labor. The total amounts shall be divided into the following maximum amounts:
1. for the partner organization responsible for the Republic of Poland,
1,812 million deutschmarks;
2. for the partner organization responsible for Ukraine and the Republic
of Moldova, 1,724 million deutschmarks;
3. for the partner organization responsible for the Russian Federation
and the Republic of Latvia and the Republic of Lithuania, 835 million
deutschmarks;
4. for the partner organization responsible for the Republic of Belarus
and the Republic of Estonia, 694 million deutschmarks;
5. for the partner organization responsible for the Czech Republic, 423
million deutschmarks;
6. for the partner organization responsible for the non-Jewish claimants
outside the states referred to in Numbers 1 through 5 (the International
Organization for Migration), 800 million deutschmarks; the partner organization
must pay over up to 260 million deutschmarks of this amount to the Conference
on Jewish Material Claims against Germany;
7. for the partner organization responsible for the Jewish claimants outside
the states referred to in Numbers 1 through 5 (the Conference on Jewish
Material Claims against Germany), 1,812 million deutschmarks.
The partner organizations must use these monies to make the stipulated
payments for all persons who on February 16, 1999, had their principal
domicile in their [the organizations'] individual regional areas of responsibility
and on that date belonged to their material sphere of responsibility.
The partner organizations referred to in Numbers 2, 3, and 4 are also
responsible for those persons who on February 16, 1999, had their principal
domicile in other states, which were republics of the former USSR; in
each case that partner organization is responsible from whose area the
claimant was deported.
(3) 50 million deutschmarks are intended for compensation of other personal
injuries in connection with National Socialist injustice. Claims are to
be addressed to the partner organizations referred to in Paragraph 2.
These organizations shall determine the merits and amount of the damage
claimed. The amount of the compensation payments shall be determined by
the Commission referred to in Paragraph 6, Sentence 2, in accordance with
the ratio between the totality of the damages recognized by the partner
organizations and the total amount of the monies referred to in Sentence
1, with due consideration given to Section 11, Paragraph 1, Sentence 5.
The partner organizations may request the Commission referred to in Sentence
4 to assign the determinations referred to in Sentence 3 to an independent
arbitrator. A partner organization that prefers not to make the determinations
referred to in Sentence 3 itself must bear the costs of the arbitrator.
(4) The sum of one billion deutschmarks of the Foundation's monies is
intended for payments to persons who suffered property loss. This amount
is divided into the following maximum amounts:
1. 150 million deutschmarks for property losses resulting from persecution
within the meaning of Section 11, Paragraph 1, Sentence 1, Number 3;
2. 50 million deutschmarks for other property losses within the meaning
of Section 11, Paragraph 1, Sentence 4;
3. 150 million deutschmarks for the International Commission on Holocaust
Era Insurance Claims to compensate unpaid or revoked and not otherwise
compensated insurance policies of German insurance enterprises, including
the costs incurred in this connection;
4. 300 million deutschmarks for social purposes to the benefit of Holocaust
survivors through the Conference on Jewish Material Claims against Germany;
24 million deutschmarks of this shall be paid over to the partner organization
referred to in Paragraph 2, Number 6, which shall use it for social purposes
vis?à-vis the similarly persecuted Sinti and Roma;
5. 350 million deutschmarks for the humanitarian fund of the International
Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims.
(5) If additional interest is earned from the monies made available to
the Foundation except for the monies intended for the Future Fund, up
to 50 million deutschmarks of this shall be made available to the International
Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims to compensate insurance losses
within the meaning of Paragraph 4, Sentence 2, Number 3, for foreign subsidiaries
of German insurance enterprises and for costs incurred in this connection,
as soon as the monies are available. Monies referred to in Sentence 1
and Paragraph 4, Sentence 2, Number 3, may also be used for the other
purpose in each case.
(6) Claims for payments from the monies envisaged in Paragraph 4, Sentence
2, Numbers 1 and 2, are to be addressed to the partner organization referred
to in Paragraph 2, Number 6, regardless of the claimant's residence. Determinations
concerning these payments shall be made by a commission to be formed under
this partner organization. The commission shall consist of one member
each to be named by the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Department
of State of the United States of America and a chairperson to be chosen
by those two members. The commission shall establish supplemental principles
concerning the content and procedure of its determinations, insofar as
these are not already established under this Law or the by?laws. The commission
shall rule on the submitted applications within a year after expiration
of the application deadline. Sentences 3 and 4 apply, mutatis mutandis,
to the appeals organ to be established in accordance with Section 19.
The costs of the commission, the appeals organ, and the partner organization
are to be covered pro rata from the total amount referred to in Paragraph
4, Sentence 2, Numbers 1 and 2. If the amount of damages recognized by
the commission exceeds the monies available under Paragraph 4, Sentence
2, Number 1 or 2, the payments to be made are to be reduced in proportion
to the available monies.
(7) 700 million deutschmarks including the interest accruing thereto are
to be used for projects of the "Remembrance and Future" Fund. Of this
amount, 100 million deutschmarks may be made available for other than
its intended purpose, if well-founded requests are filed based on insurance
claims that could not be met under Paragraph 4, Sentence 2, Number 3,
and Paragraph 5.
(8) In concert with the Board of Trustees, the partner organizations may
subdivide the category of forced laborers, within its quota, in accordance
with Section 11, Paragraph 1, Sentence 1, Number 1, insofar as this involves
persons interned in other places of confinement, as well as affected persons
within the meaning of Section 11, Paragraph 1, Sentence 1, Number 2, into
subcategories depending on the severity of their fate and may set correspondingly
gradated maximum amounts. This shall also apply to the eligibility of
legal successors.
(9) The maximum amounts under Paragraph 1 may only be paid out for the
time being in the amount of 50% for claimants under Section 11, Paragraph
1, Sentence 1, Number 1, and 35% for claimants under Section 11, Paragraph
1, Sentence 1, Number 2 or Sentence 2. Another payment of up to 50% of
the amounts mentioned in Paragraph 1 for claimants under Section 11, Paragraph
1, Sentence 1, Number 1 and up to 65% of the amounts mentioned in Paragraph
1 for claimants under Section 11, Paragraph 1, Sentence 1, Number 2 or
Sentence 2 shall be paid out after conclusion of the processing of all
applications pending before the respective partner organization, to the
extent possible within the framework of the available means. The partner
organizations may set up a financial reserve for appeals under Section
19, in the amount of up to 5% of the monies allocated. To the extent the
reserve has been set up, payment of the second installment under Sentence
2 may be made before the conclusion of the appeal proceedings. The Board
of Trustees has the right, at the request of individual partner organizations,
to allow an increase in the installment payments laid down under Sentence
1, insofar as it is assured that the monies allocated in Paragraph 2 are
not exceeded.
(10) Payments under Section 11, Paragraph 1, Sentence 1, Number 3, with
the exception of the payments of the International Commission on Holocaust
Era Insurance Claims and payments under Section 11, Paragraph 1, Sentence
4 or 5 can take place only after all applications pending before the competent
commission have been processed.
(11) Monies allocated under Paragraph 2 but not completely depleted are
to be used for persons entitled to payments under Section 11, Paragraph
1, Sentence 1, Numbers 1 and 2. Should the funds provided under Paragraphs
2 and 3 not be completely depleted in spite of payment of the maximum
amounts under Paragraph 1, Sentence 3, the Board of Trustees shall decide
how they shall be used. Just as in the case of the use of additional monies,
the Board must compensate, in particular, any shortage incurred by individual
partner organizations in making payments under Section 11, Paragraph 1,
Sentence 1, Numbers 1 and 2. Monies referred to in Paragraph 4, Sentence
2, Numbers 1 and 2, which are not drawn down despite full compensation
of damages shall go to the Conference on Jewish Material Claims against
Germany; those referred to in Paragraph 4, Sentence 2, Number 3, to the
International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims. The Board
of Trustees may allow the maximum amounts under Paragraph 1, Sentence
3 to be exceeded if all partner organizations have been able to make payments
in the amounts of these maximum amounts.
(12) Personnel and non-personnel costs shall be paid from the Foundation's
funds, insofar as they are not to be assumed by the partner organizations
in accordance with Paragraph 1, Sentence 2. The costs to be borne by the
Foundation also include outlays for attorneys and counsel whose activity
on behalf of persons entitled to payments under Section 11 contributed
to the establishment of the Foundation or otherwise were favorable to
its creation, particularly by taking part in the multilateral negotiations
that preceded the establishment of the Foundation or by filing complaints
on behalf of claimants under Section 11 between November 14, 1990, and
December 17, 1999. There is no legal claim to payments pursuant to Sentence
2. An arbitrator named by the Foundation will determine the allocation
of an amount set by the Board of Trustees, based on guidelines that shall
be determined and published by the Board of Trustees. Requests for the
payments stipulated in Sentence 2 are to be submitted to the Foundation
by the attorneys and counsel themselves and on their own behalf within
eight months after publication of the guidelines. They must be accompanied
by documentation of the outlays claimed. Every attorney and counsel shall
make a declaration in the request proceedings to the effect that he waives
any claims against his clients upon receipt of a payment under Sentence
2. He is under obligation to advise his clients that he has waived any
claims.
(13) For pending litigation concerning matters covered in this Law, court
costs shall not be levied.
Section 10: Distribution of Resources through Partner Organizations
(1) The approval and disbursal of one-time payments to those persons eligible
under Section 11 will be carried out through partner organizations. The
Foundation is neither authorized nor obligated in this regard. The Board
of Trustees may decide for another mode of payment. The partner organizations
shall cooperate with appropriate associations of persecutees and local
organizations.
(2) Within two months after entry into force of the Law, the Foundation
and its partner organizations are to publicize the possibility of compensation
under this Law in an appropriate manner to all groups of eligible people
in their respective countries of residency. These publications shall specifically
include information about the Foundation and its partner organizations,
the conditions on which compensation can be awarded, and application deadlines.
Section 11: Eligible Persons
(1) Eligible under this Law are:
1. persons who were held in a concentration camp as defined in Section
42, Paragraph 2 of the German Indemnification Act or in another place
of confinement outside the territory of what is now the Republic of Austria
or a ghetto under comparable conditions and were subjected to forced labor;
2. persons who were deported from their homelands into the territory of
the German Reich within the borders of 1937 or to a German-occupied area,
subjected to forced labor in a commercial enterprise or for public authorities
there, and held under conditions other than those mentioned in Number
1, or were subjected to conditions resembling imprisonment or similar
extremely harsh living conditions; this rule does not apply to persons
who because their forced labor was performed primarily in the territory
of what is now the Republic of Austria can receive payments from the Austrian
Reconciliation Foundation;
3. persons who suffered property loss as a consequence of racial persecution
with essential, direct, and harm-causing collaboration of German businesses
as defined by the laws on indemnification and who could not receive any
payment or could not file their claims for restitution or compensation
by the deadline because they either did not meet the residency requirements
of the Federal Indemnification Act or had their domicile or permanent
residence in an area with whose government the Federal Republic of Germany
did not maintain diplomatic relations, or because they could not prove
that an asset that had been expropriated due to persecution outside the
territory of the German Reich in its 1937 borders and could no longer
be located there, had been removed to the Federal Republic of Germany,
or the proofs of the validity of their claims under the Federal Restitution
Act [Bundesrückerstattungsgesetz] and the Federal Indemnification Act
[Bundesentschädigungsgesetz] became known and available only due to German
reunification, and the filing of the claims under the Law on the Settlement
of Open Property Matters or the Law on Indemnification of Victims of Nazism
was not allowed, or to the extent that restitution payments for monetary
claims expropriated outside Reich territory were denied for lack of the
possibility of assessing them, and no payments could be claimed either
under the Currency Conversion Act, the Federal Indemnification Act, the
Equalization of Burdens Act, or the Reparation Losses Act; that also applies
to other persecutees within the meaning of the Federal Indemnification
Act; special arrangements within the framework of the International Committee
of Holocaust Era Claims shall remain unaffected.
The partner organizations may also award compensation from the funds provided
to them pursuant to Section 9, Paragraph 2 to those victims of National
Socialist crimes who are not members of one of the groups mentioned in
Sentence 1, Numbers 1 and 2, particularly forced laborers in agriculture.
These awards, with reservation as to Section 9, Paragraph 8, must not
result in any reduction in the payments to persons eligible under Paragraph
1, Sentence 1, Number 1. The funds provided for in Section 9, Paragraph
4, Sentence 2, Number 2 are intended to compensate property damage inflicted
during the National Socialist regime with the essential, direct, and harm-causing
participation of German enterprises, but not inflicted for reasons of
National Socialist persecution. The funds referred to in Section 9, Paragraph
3, shall be awarded in cases of medical experiments or in the event of
the death of or severe damage to the health of a child lodged in a home
for children of forced laborers; in cases of other personal injuries they
may be awarded.
(2) Eligibility shall be demonstrated by the applicant by submission of
documentation. The partner organization shall bring in relevant evidence.
If no relevant evidence is available, the claimant's eligibility can be
made credible in some other way.
(3) Eligibility cannot be based on prisoner-of-war status.
(4) Payments from the Foundation are exempt from inheritance tax and gift
tax.
Section 12: Definitions
(1) Specific characteristics of other places of confinement referred to
in Section 11, Paragraph 1, Number 1 are inhumane prison conditions, insufficient
nutrition, and lack of medical care.
(2) German enterprises referred to in Sections 11 and 16 are those that
had their headquarters within the 1937 borders of the German Reich or
have their headquarters in the Federal Republic of Germany, as well as
their parent companies, even when the latter had or have their headquarters
abroad. Enterprises situated outside the 1937 borders of the German Reich
in which during the period between January 30, 1933, and the entry into
force of this Law, German enterprises as described in Sentence 1 had a
direct or indirect financial participation of at least 25 percent are
also considered German enterprises.
Section 13: Application Eligibility
(1) Awards under Section 11, Paragraph 1, Sentence 1, Numbers 1 or 2,
or Sentence 2 or Sentence 5 are strictly personal and individual and must
be applied for in one's own name. In a case where the eligible person
has died after February 15, 1999, or where an award under Section 11,
Paragraph 1, Number 3 or Sentence 4 is being applied for, the surviving
spouse and children shall be entitled to equal shares of the award. If
the eligible person left neither a spouse nor children, awards may be
applied for in equal shares by the grandchildren, or if there are no grandchildren
living, by the siblings. If no application is filed by these persons,
the heirs named in a will are entitled to apply. Special arrangements
within the framework of the International Commission on Holocaust Era
Insurance Claims shall remain unaffected. The claim to payment cannot
be ceded or attached.
(2) Juridical persons shall not be eligible. They can file applications
as representatives of their shareholders eligible under this Law if specifically
authorized by these shareholders. If a religious community or organization
suffered property losses with the essential, direct, and harm-causing
participation of German enterprises, Sentence 1 does not apply to them
or their legal successors.
Section 14: Cut-off Dates
(1) Eligibility pursuant to Section 11 can no longer be determined if
an application has not been received by a partner organization by the
end of 31 December 2001. This shall also apply if upon conclusion of processing
by the respective partner organization within the meaning of Section 9,
Paragraph 9, Sentence 2 the application forms, documentation and evidence
required to take a decision on the application have not been received.
(2) Applications that are received directly by the Foundation or by an
inappropriate partner organization shall be forwarded to the appropriate
partner organization. Special arrangements within the framework of the
International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims shall remain
unaffected.
(3) If an application has been filed within the application period specified
in Paragraph 1 and if within six months after the death of the eligible
person none of the persons eligible as legal successors pursuant to Section
13, Paragraph 1, Sentences 2 through 4 have notified the partner organization
of their legal succession, the eligibility for an award shall expire.
Paragraph 2 shall apply to the notification of legal succession mutatis
mutandis.
Section 15: Treatment of Other Payments
(1) Payments for injustices suffered under National Socialism are supposed
to benefit the persons eligible and not lead to a reduction of income
received from the social security or health care system.
(2) Payments made earlier by enterprises in compensation for forced labor
and other National Socialist injustices, even if made through third parties,
shall be counted against payments under Section 9, Paragraph 1. Special
arrangements within the framework of the International Commission on Holocaust
Era Insurance Claims shall remain unaffected.
Section 16: Exclusions from Claims
(1) Payments from public funds, including social security, and from German
business enterprises for injustice suffered under National Socialism as
defined in Section 11 may be claimed only under the terms of this Law.
Any further claims in connection with National Socialist injustices are
excluded. This applies also to cases in which claims have been transferred
to third persons by operation of law, transition, or a legal transaction.
(2) Each claimant shall provide a statement within the framework of the
application procedure irrevocably renouncing, without prejudice to Sentences
3 through 5, after receipt of a payment under this Law any further claim
against the authorities for forced labor and property damage, all claims
against German enterprises in connection with National Socialist injustice,
and forced-labor claims against the Republic of Austria or Austrian enterprises.
The renunciation becomes effective upon receipt of a payment under this
Law. Accepting payments for personal damage under Section 11, Paragraph
1, Sentence 1, Number 1 or 2, or Sentence 2 or Sentence 5 shall not mean
the renunciation of payments for insurance or other property damage in
accordance with Section 11, Paragraph 1, Sentence 1, Number 3, or Sentence
4, and vice versa. Sentence 1 does not apply to claims arising from National
Socialist injustice committed by foreign parent companies with headquarters
outside the 1937 borders of the German Reich without having any connections
with their German subsidiaries and the latter's involvement in National
Socialist injustice. Sentence 1 also does not apply to any claims to restitution
of artworks, insofar as the applicant undertakes to pursue this claim
in Germany or the country from which the artwork was taken. The renunciation
also pertains to compensation of legal costs for the prosecution of the
claim, insofar as Section 9, Paragraph 12, does not provide otherwise.
The details of the procedure shall be determined by the by-laws.
(3) More extensive compensation arrangements and settlements of the consequences
of war at the public expense shall not be prejudiced by the above.
Section 17: Transfer of Funds
(1) The Foundation is to make funds available quarterly to the partner
organizations according to their documented need as outlined in Section
9, Paragraphs 2 and 3. The utilization of funds will be appropriately
monitored by the Foundation.
(2) The first allocation of funds to the Foundation requires as a precondition
the entry into force of the German-American Intergovernmental Agreement
Concerning the Foundation "Remembrance, Responsibility and Future," and
the establishment of adequate legal security for German enterprises. The
German Bundestag shall determine whether these preconditions exist.
Section 18: Requests for Information
(1) The Foundation and its partner organizations are authorized to receive
information from agencies and other public bodies that is necessary for
the fulfillment of their responsibilities. Information will not be provided
if this would be contrary to specific official regulations on the use
of the information, or when justifiable protection of the interests of
the party concerned outweighs the general interest favoring disclosure.
(2) The information received may be used only for the purpose of carrying
out the goals of the Foundation, and an applicant's personal data may
be used only for the grant procedure under Section 11. The use of these
data for other purposes is admissible only with the express consent of
the applicant.
(3) Applicants under this Law may request information from enterprises
in Germany for which or for whose legal predecessors they performed forced
labor, insofar as this is requisite for determining their eligibility
for awards.
Section 19: Appeals Process
The partner organizations are to create appeals organs that are independent
and subject to no outside instruction. The appeals process itself is to
be free of charge. However, costs incurred by the applicant are not to
be reimbursed.
Section 20: Entry into Force
This Law enters into force on the date after its promulgation |