Reparations: Has the United States Successfully Made Amends for Its Own Civil Atrocities?

Reparations: Has the United States successfully made amends for its own civil atrocities?

Discussions of reparations for oppressed ethnic groups are a controversial subject for many reasons. Are descendents of those who suffered eligible for reparations, and if so, what should the compensation package look like? Have these groups already received some form of compensation, and if so, was it enough? Can the country realistically afford to develop a reparations package to satisfy those in question? Finally, what can truthfully be achieved from paying out reparations to everyone claiming eligibility? The scope of my research focused primarily on the two largest groups lobbying for reparations: the Native Americans and the African-Americans. The scope extends to two additional groups that were also oppressed but seemingly received far less notoriety in the argument of compensation: the Japanese Americans and women. Before discussing the plight of the aforementioned groups, I will briefly explore Germany and their ongoing reparations program to compensate Jews and others that suffered during the holocaust, as it truly is the beginning of modern day reparations and a standard of measure.

Reparations resulting from the Holocaust

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum estimated the European Jewish population in 1933 at approximately nine million. As a result of Hitler’s “Final Solution” over six million Jews were systematically murdered by firing squads, starvation, and gas chambers. Gas chambers became the preferred method as they allowed mass “extermination” subsequently followed by incineration of the dead in order to eliminate the need to manually dispose of the remains.

European Jews were not the only persons persecuted by the Third Reich. Peoples of Slavic decent, gypsies, homosexuals, handicapped persons, and those found to be providing assistance to the Jewish population were also targeted. As a result of the 1965 Restitution Law, Germany had paid over 78.4 billion marks ($47 billion) to those affected by the atrocities committed by the Nazi party. Although the majority of those who were alive and suffered during World War II have since died, Germany continues to forfeit an estimated $75 million annually in monetary compensation to 106,000 pensioners in Israel, the United States and other countries.

In terms of reparations, this is clearly a triumph for victims of the holocaust. However, as the years pass and survivors die off from natural causes, Germany should in theory, pay less and less each year. According to an article published by Israeli News Network Arutz Sheva, the German Government announced “the (2011) budget for Holocaust reparations will be doubled, from 55 million Euros to 110 million Euros.” Perhaps this seemingly endless payment is an aggravating factor which discourages lawmakers to pass legislation providing