National Socialist persecution affected people in Germany and in many other European countries. The map illustrates the greatest extent of the sphere of control of the National Socialist regime and the Axis Powers in Europe in 1942/43.

The map shows the locations of the concentration and extermination camps and of the killing centers of the so-called euthanasia program (Aktion T-4) in 1942. In order to apply for compensation, former prisoners needed to name and specify the camp where they suffered damages. The 6th BEG Implementation Ordinance (BGBl. 1967 I, pp. 233-254 PDF) provides an overview of the places of detention qualifying as concentration camps under the Federal Compensation Act (BEG).

The end of the Second World War resulted in the expulsion of the German population from the territories of the German Reich east of the Oder-Neisse line and from the German settlement areas in Eastern Europe. In order to facilitate their integration into the federal territory, expellees received compensatory payments for losses caused by the expulsion. Victims of National Socialist persecution who had left the later territories of expulsion but would have been expelled after 1945 anyway (so-called Fiktivvertriebene) were also entitled to these payments.

After the end of the Second World War, the victorious powers divided Germany into four occupation zones, with the areas east of the Oder-Neisse line falling to Poland and the Soviet Union. The occupation zones implemented first Wiedergutmachung provisions in the newly established Länder, which led to patchwork of different regulations.

The map illustrates Germany’s political organization in the early 1950s in combination with the external borders of the German Reich of 1937. The dark pink region refers to the Federal Republic of Germany with the West German Länder. The GDR territory with the East German Länder (dissolved in 1952) appears in pale pink. The light pink regions show the Eastern territories that fell to Poland and the Soviet Union after the Second World War. The territory of the German Reich within the borders of December 31, 1937, was sometimes crucial for compensation applications under the Federal Compensation Act (BGBl. 1956 I, pp. 559-596 PDF), as it decided on the right to apply (Section 4 I No. 1c) or on the recognition of damages (e.g. Section 50 I).

The East German Länder Brandenburg, Mecklenburg, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia (marked in red), which were established in the Soviet occupation zone in 1945, were merged into the newly created Bezirke in 1952 (marked in green). The Bezirke were named after the respective capitals of the Bezirke (underlined in green). With the administrative reform of 1952, not only were the Länder and Bezirke boundaries redrawn, but the Kreise were also reorganised in many cases.

After the end of the Second World War, Europe fell into two blocs because of the East-West conflict. The former victims of National Socialist persecution in Eastern Europe in particular received little or no compensation during the Cold War.