Victims of state injustice in the former GDR; applying for pension benefits

If you were politically persecuted or became a victim of arbitrariness as a result of an administrative decision by an authority in the former GDR that was contrary to the rule of law and you have suffered damage to your health, you can receive compensation.

For contact details of the responsible authoritiy and local valid information select under "Select location" a location.

Many citizens of the former German Democratic Republic (GDR) were politically persecuted or arbitrarily discriminated against and harassed by the authorities of the GDR state apparatus or the Soviet occupation zone in very different ways. Sometimes this went so far that those affected suffered damage to their health that they still suffer from today.

Such damage to health can be, for example

chronic pain due to the consequences of police operations contrary to the rule of law or
long-term psychological damage caused by years of spying and harassment by the Stasi.

If this applies to you and there are no grounds for exclusion, you may be entitled to compensation.

You are excluded from the pension if you yourself have violated the principles of humanity or the rule of law in the past or have seriously abused your position for your own benefit or to the detriment of others. This is the case, for example, if you voluntarily acted as an informer or informer for the Ministry for State Security (MfS) in order to gain advantages for yourself.

Compensation for victims includes the following benefits:

Curative and medical treatment as well as physical exercises for the disabled,
Basic and compensatory pensions for injured persons as well as benefits to compensate for occupational damage, under certain conditions with a severely disabled person's allowance, care allowance or similar,
Welfare benefits that supplement the other benefits on an individual basis. They are generally dependent on income and assets; however, income is not taken into account if your needs are solely due to the health impairment. Among other things, the following can be considered
- Supplementary assistance for living expenses,
- Assistance in maintaining the household,
- Benefits for participation in working life,
- assistance for the elderly,
- care assistance,
- housing assistance and
- recreational assistance.

The following conditions must be met in order for you to receive compensation:

You have been rehabilitated due to a sovereign measure taken by a German official body to settle an individual case in the accession territory from the period from May 8, 1945 to October 2, 1990 or it has been established that such a measure was contrary to the rule of law.
The administrative decision must have caused damage to your health.
You yourself have not violated the principles of humanity or the rule of law or seriously abused your position for your own benefit or to the detriment of others, for example by
- significantly aided the political system of the GDR (for example by working in the state apparatus or in leading positions in the SED) or
- worked for the Ministry for State Security (MfS) (full-time or unofficially).

Submit an application for disability benefits to the pension office, the Bavarian Family and Social Welfare Center. The application does not require any special form.

The pension office will examine your application and, if necessary, request further evidence from you.
It will make the necessary findings on the existence of grounds for exclusion and, if rehabilitation has not yet taken place, on whether the measure is contrary to the rule of law.