The Reparations Agreements: A New Perspective

In the wake of the Holocaust, a series of agree ments were reached between the Federal Republic of Ger many and representatives of the Jewish people regarding com pensation for the suffering inflicted during that terrible era. The agreements had many unusual features to which insuf ficient attention has been devoted in the existing literature, most of which is confined to specific issues of a legal, psy chiatric, or economic nature. A more integrative approach is presented here, through the perspective of a newly developing field, namely, victimology. This approach pro vides a perspective for examining both the practical and the ideological issues involved. It also raises the question as to how far comparison may be made between genocide and more "conventional" victimization processes.