Zonal Policy Instruction No. 20

Zonal Policy Instruction No. 20 (German: Zonenpolitische Anweisung Nr. 20; also cited as HQ 2900 No. 20 and in English as Relief for Ex-Inmates of Concentration Camps) was a directive issued by the British Military Government in occupied Germany in December 1945. It established a system of special relief for former inmates of Nazi concentration camps and other victims of Nazi persecution in the British occupation zone. The instruction introduced a formal administrative procedure for recognizing persecuted persons and created district-level committees responsible for examining applications and supervising relief payments.^[1]

The system created by the instruction combined elements of welfare assistance and early compensation policy. It aimed primarily at providing material support to survivors in urgent need in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, while at the same time publicly recognizing their status as victims of the National Socialist regime.^[2]

In the months following the end of the Second World War, the situation of survivors of Nazi persecution varied widely across the British occupation zone. Assistance was largely organized by local welfare offices, municipalities, and survivor organizations. As a result, the treatment of former prisoners and other persecuted persons differed significantly from region to region.^[3]

The British authorities therefore introduced a uniform framework intended to standardize assistance and to signal publicly that those who had suffered because of their opposition to National Socialism or because of Nazi racial policy were entitled to special recognition and support.^[4]

The directive is frequently associated in the literature with the date 4 December 1945. However, administrative copies circulated in the British zone were dated 22 December 1945. According to historical research, the system established by the instruction began operating in practice only in early 1946, once the necessary administrative structures had been organized.^[5]

The directive defined eligibility according to the grounds of persecution rather than simply by imprisonment itself. In principle, persons who had been imprisoned because of their race, political beliefs, or religion were eligible for relief.^[6]

The directive also extended relief in certain cases to persons who did not fall within the ordinary German welfare system, including some displaced persons and nationals of neutral countries who had been imprisoned by the Nazi authorities.^[7]

However, eligibility criteria were restrictive and subject to interpretation. The directive did not precisely define the categories of racial, political, or religious persecution. As a result, local authorities often exercised considerable discretion when determining whether applicants qualified.^[8]

The directive explicitly excluded several categories of persons from relief. These included:

• former members of the Nazi Party;
• prisoners who had collaborated in the punishment of other inmates;
• persons imprisoned as a result of internal conflicts within the Nazi movement rather than genuine opposition;
• persons imprisoned as mutinous members of the Wehrmacht;
• persons convicted of serious criminal offences; and
• persons considered to be of bad character.^[9]

Because some of these criteria were vague, historians have noted that they could be applied restrictively against groups stigmatized under National Socialism as socially deviant.^[10]

Applicants seeking recognition had to submit formal applications documenting their persecution. In many cases the application had to be confirmed by a responsible official such as a member of the British Military Government, a police authority, a clergyman, a judge, a lawyer, or another public official.^[11]

Applicants also had to demonstrate that they had suffered persecution and in some cases provide certificates of conduct. Initially applications had to be submitted by February 1946, although this deadline was later extended.^[12]

Persons whose applications were accepted received official documents confirming their status as persecuted persons and entitling them to special relief benefits.

The relief system introduced by the instruction included several types of assistance designed to address the urgent living conditions of survivors in the immediate post-war period.

The principal form of financial aid was an increased welfare payment. Recognized victims received welfare benefits increased by approximately fifty percent above the normal level of public assistance for an initial period of twenty-six weeks. If hardship continued, the benefit could be extended for an additional thirteen weeks.^[13]

Recipients could also receive one-time grants for essential goods such as clothing, bedding, and household items. In cases of special hardship, interest-free loans could be granted.^[14]

The payments were financed primarily by local authorities, although municipalities could obtain reimbursement from higher administrative levels.

Recognized beneficiaries also received improved food rations, typically equivalent to those allocated to heavy labourers. These rations were significantly higher than the standard civilian ration in the immediate post-war period.^[15]

In addition, beneficiaries could receive preferential access to clothing and other rationed goods.

The directive also aimed to improve the social reintegration of survivors. Victims could receive priority in housing allocation and assistance in finding employment. In practice, however, the housing crisis in many parts of the British zone limited the extent to which these provisions could be implemented.^[16]

Although Zonal Policy Instruction No. 20 created the initial administrative framework for relief in the British occupation zone, later developments took place through a gradual shift toward state-level compensation and relief legislation in the individual Länder.

Zonal Policy Instruction No. 20 was not superseded by a single enactment across the British occupation zone. Instead, between 1947 and 1949 its welfare-based system was gradually overtaken by more specific state-level compensation and relief legislation. In North Rhine-Westphalia, a law providing pensions for victims of Nazi oppression was introduced in 1947, followed on 11 February 1949 by a British Military Government law on compensation for deprivation of liberty on political, racial, or religious grounds. Schleswig-Holstein established its own legal basis with the Law on the Procedure for Granting Special Privileges and Relief to Politically Persecuted Persons of 4 March 1948, which expressly built on the instruction of 22 December 1945. In Hamburg, a British Military Government law on special relief pensions followed on 24 May 1948, while in Lower Saxony a British Military Government law on special relief for persons persecuted by the National Socialist regime was enacted on 22 September 1948. These measures did not abolish Zonal Policy Instruction No. 20 at one stroke, but progressively displaced its emergency relief framework by creating more formalized legal regimes at Land level; this development was later further standardized at federal level by the Bundesergänzungsgesetz of 1953 and the Bundesentschädigungsgesetz of 1956.^[17][18][19]

Historians regard Zonal Policy Instruction No. 20 as an important transitional stage in the development of post-war compensation policy in West Germany. The directive created one of the first structured administrative systems for recognizing victims of persecution and providing them with material support.

At the same time, the system reflected the limitations of early post-war policy. Relief was primarily tied to welfare need rather than to comprehensive legal compensation, and the categories of eligible victims remained narrow and subject to interpretation.^[20]

• British Military Government (Germany)
• Displaced person
• Bundesentschädigungsgesetz