Compulsory Sterilization in Nazi-Germany and Compensation for Victims

Abstract

On 14 July 1933, the Nazi-regime in Germany passed the Law for the Prevention of Offspring with Hereditary Diseases. The purpose of this legislation was the compulsory sterilization of those considered to have a ʻhereditary diseaseʼ. Under this law, more than 300,000 people were forcibly sterilized. Victims were not only deprived of their right to have children, but they also lost their identities and suffered from aftereffects.

Despite the enormous damage caused by compulsory sterilization, victims were not compensated until the 1980s. This paper not only clarifies why victims of forced sterilization were not compensated for about 35 years after the war, but also outlines the progress of the compensation policy for forced sterilization victims that started in the 1980s.

The results can be summarized in the following two points. First, the main reason for the delay in providing compensation to the victims of forced sterilization was that the sterilization law was not considered illegal even after the war. The Control Council laws enacted after the war did not repeal the Law for the Prevention of Offspring with Hereditary Diseases. Until the 1960s, some scholars even argued for the need to enact a new sterilization law. Under these circumstances, the victims were not recognized as victims.

Second, the progress of compensation for the victims was driven by the growing awareness that the Nazi sterilization program was a crime. Only in the 1980s did research on forced sterilization begin to increase, revealing the reality of the damage. In 1987, an alliance of victims of forced sterilization was also formed. The alliance contributed to raising awareness about the suffering of victims of forced sterilization in German society. These factors helped politicians recognize the need for compensation for victims of forced sterilization.