Due to the plight of the refugees, state aid programmes were decided in cross-party consensus which also met the demands of associations of displaced persons. With the Emergency Aid Act of 1949, it was initially possible to help all war-affected people through the worst of their distress on the basis of the principle of need. It was regarded as a preliminary stage of the Equalisation of Burdens Act of 1952, the most important social legislation of the post-war period. This was used to provide necessary services and loans for setting up businesses, which were financed by a wealth levy on society as a whole. For many displaced people this was also psychologically important, as the grants were based on lost property and therefore did not represent charity. The Federal Refugees Act of 1953 regulated who was to be considered a displaced person.
Slowly the displaced people overcame their economic hardship. New housing estates and residential areas were built. Some street names still remind us today of the origin of the displaced persons.
Illustrations:Before the 1949 Bundestag elections, the parties competed for the votes of the displaced persons.
German Federal Archives, poster 004-010-015, 1947
German Federal Archives, poster 005-004-018, 1949
German Federal Archives, poster 104-TA253-001, 1949
German Federal Archives, poster 005-022-008, 1949
Guide to equalisation of burdens – information brochure for refugees and displaced persons around 1955
German Historical Museum, Do2 2005/122