11b. Arrangement between the Government of the United States of America and the German Government, effected by an exchange of notes, Berlin, December 8, 1926

The German Government has the honour to affirm that the conversations which have now been concluded between the German Government and the Government of the United States of America for the purpose of realizing the 2¼ percent share of the United States in payments under the Experts’ Plan have resulted in mutual understanding on the following points:

(1)

The German Government promises that it will do everything in its power in order that the Government of the United States will receive each year its 2¼ percent share of the annuities under the Experts’ Plan. For this purpose the German Government will, for the financing of the deliveries in kind and services to be made or rendered to the United States, prevail upon German firms to deposit each month out of the dollar credits arising from the said deliveries and services a sum in dollars the amount of which, as more explicitly stated in paragraph 3, shall be fixed at the beginning of each month. The deposit will be made through the agency of the Reichsbank to the credit of the Agent General for Reparation Payments with the Federal Bank in New York.

(2)

The Government of the United States will make a continuing arrangement so that the Agent General for Reparation Payments [Page 923] will pay to the German firms the Reichsmark equivalent—immediately upon receipt of the cable report from the Federal Reserve Bank that the transfer has been made—in Berlin at the average Berlin rate for cable transfers on the day on which the dollars were transferred. The Government of the United States will furthermore take steps to the end that the Agent General for Reparation Payments will inform the Reich Finance Ministry not later than the first of each month of the sum to be paid by the German firms during that month.

(3)

It is hereby agreed that the present procedure is not applicable to that part of the share of the Government of the United States in the annuities under the Experts’ Plan set aside to meet the claim for arrears of army costs or that part which is otherwise covered in any manner through cash transfers.

The total amount accruing to the United States according to this arrangement during the period from September first, 1926, to the coming into force of the present arrangement, will be distributed over the remainder of the year in equal instalments. In general the amounts are to be divided in approximately equal monthly parts.

(4)

The present arrangement may be terminated by either of the two parties not earlier than June first, 1927, effective September 1, 1927, or in subsequent years annually on and for the same dates in the respective year.

(5)

When the Government of the United States has informed the German Government that the Agent General has received the necessary authority to proceed in the sense of this understanding, both Governments will make the necessary arrangements for its execution.

Note

This arrangement exists in two forms, as an exchange of notes between the German Ministry for Foreign Affairs (Köpke) and the Ambassador of the United States at Berlin (Schurman) on December 8, 1926 (file 462.00 R 296/1688, enclosures Nos. 4 and 5) and as an arrangement between the two governments submitted to the Reparation Commission as annex 3041 C (amended text) and approved by the commission retroactively on January 14, 1927 (file 462.00 R 296/1701 and 462.00 R 296/1711). The exchange of notes was in German and English without translations; the arrangement was in English.

The Transfer Committee on December 1, 1926 (file 462.00 R 296/1682) confirmed an arrangement by which the Agent General [Page 924] for Reparation Payments paid to I. G. Farbenindustrie, A.G., Deutsches Kalisyndikat, Hamburg-Amerika Linie and Norddeutscher Lloyd a total sum of 10,000,000 gold marks out of the accumulated share of the United States in consideration of their surrendering the equivalent in dollars to the United States.