Holocaust compensation payments and the global search for justice for victims of Nazi persecution

Dormant bank accounts, insurance policies, communal property, and most recently the question of compensation for slave and forced labour: more than fifty years after the Second World War, the crimes committed by the National Socialist regime have returned to the agenda. Negotiations between governments, class-action lawyers, and Jewish and non-Jewish organisations have led to a series of agreements to compensate Holocaust victims. These agreements also have consequences for the study of the Holocaust: a global commitment to archival openness; the globalisation of historical research; a "reorientation" in the study of the economic aspect of the holocaust, and the globalisation of the memory of the Holocaust. This article elaborates on these aspects and demonstrates how the parties involved (governments, NGOs) have made "competitive use of history" in order to advance and further their cause.