Standard Forms Explanation

About the Questionnaires

Standardised questionnaires are among the documents most frequently encountered in United Restitution Organisation case files. The URO assisted victims of Nazi persecution — and the heirs of those — in pursuing compensation and restitution claims under West Germany's post-war indemnification laws. To prepare these claims, the organisation gathered information through recurring forms that recorded a claimant's personal details, persecution history, professional and material losses, and damage to health. Because they were completed in German and followed a fixed structure, the same fields reappear across countless individual files.

This page presents annotated versions of these forms, pairing the original German with English translations and explaining the historical meaning behind individual fields. Select a questionnaire below to learn more.