Nationalfonds der Republik Österreich für Opfer des Nationalsozialismus

The National Fund of the Republic of Austria for Victims of National Socialism (hereinafter: National Fund) was established in 1995 by law (Federal Law Gazette I No. 432/1995) in order to express the moral responsibility of the Republic of Austria towards the victims of the Nazi regime. It makes lump-sum recognition payments in the amount of 5,087.00 euros (prior to the introduction of the euro 70,000 schillings) to surviving victims of Nazi crimes. There is no deadline for filing applications with the National Fund.

In 2001, the National Fund was assigned further tasks. The Washington Agreement (Federal Law Gazette III No. 121/2001) had created a legal basis to provide compensation for seized tenancy rights, household effects and personal valuables (see the amendment to the National Fund Law Federal Law Gazette I No. 11/2001). A sum of 150 million US dollars was made available for these lump-sum payments to surviving victims of National Socialism; the deadline for applications was 30 June 2004.

The General Settlement Fund for Victims of National Socialism (hereinafter: General Settlement Fund) was established in 2001 on the basis of the Washington Agreement and the General Settlement Fund Law (Federal Law Gazette I No. 12/2001). It was dissolved in 2022 after it had completed its tasks.

The General Settlement Fund was endowed with 210 million US dollars. It was mandated to comprehensively resolve outstanding questions of compensation for victims of National Socialism and recognise Austria’s moral responsibility for property losses suffered by victims of the National Socialist regime in Austria between 1938 and 1945 in the form of voluntary payments. The focus was on losses that had not been (adequately) dealt with under previous Austrian restitution or compensation measures. These included losses in the categories business assets, real estate, financial assets, movable assets or occupational and educational losses. Applications for compensation of such losses were decided on by the independent Claims Committee.

In addition, the independent Arbitration Panel for In Rem Restitution (hereinafter: Arbitration Panel) was established at the General Settlement Fund. It decided on applications for the actual return of property. An in rem restitution could be recommended for properties, superstructures or for movable assets that had once belonged Jewish communal organisations, which had been seized from their owners during the Nazi era and were publicly owned (i.e. by the federal government, the federal provinces or certain municipalities) on the statutory cut-off date, 17 January 2001, insofar as they had not been dealt with by an earlier restitution measure. The Panel was dissolved in 2021 after completing its tasks.

The records of the National Fund, of the General Settlement Fund (dissolved in 2022) and the Arbitration Panel for In Rem Restitution (dissolved in 2021) are stored in the registry of the National Fund.

The registry of the National Fund contains the holdings of the National Fund and the General Settlement Fund (comprising the Claims Committee and the Arbitration Panel for In Rem Restitution), each of which consists of individual sub-holdings and series. In addition, the registry contains records regarding the “Bank Austria Settlement”, among others.

Allgemeiner Entschädigungsfonds für Opfer des Nationalsozialismus (ed.), Schlussbericht des Antragskomitees des Allgemeinen Entschädigungsfonds für Opfer des Nationalsozialismus, Vienna 2020, online at www.entschaedigungsfonds.org/schlussbericht-des-antragskomitees.

Josef Aicher, Erich Kussbach, August Reinisch (Hrsg.) [(eds)], Schlussbericht der Schiedsinstanz für Naturalrestitution [Final Report of the Arbitration Panel for In Rem Restitution]. Koordination und Gesamtredaktion [Editorial coordination]: Susanne Helene Betz; Redaktion [Editorial team]: Susanne Helene Betz, Sarah Fink, Claire Fritsch, Martin Niklas, Peter Stadlbauer; Lektorat (deutsche Texte) [Proofreading (German texts)]: Martin Niklas; Übersetzungen [Translations]: Sarah Fink, Victoria Grimes, Johannes Tropper, Wien [Vienna] (bilingual, German/English). To be published in 2024.