863.51 Relief Credits/414: Telegram (part air)
The Ambassador in Germany (Wilson) to the Secretary of State
[Received June 1—9:05 a.m.]
282. Embassy’s 281, May 31, 6 p.m. Following is the pertinent portion in translation of the German note to the Committee of Guarantor States of the Austrian loans:
“Sir Frederick Leith-Ross, President of the Committee of Guarantor States of the Austrian Loans.
[Page 491]The German Embassy at Rome has forwarded to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs your letter of the 19th May, together with the enclosed proposal of the 19th May and the draft of an agreement.
In reply, I have the honor to inform you that the German Government, having regard to former precedents of international law and to the principles applied therein, are not of opinion that they are under a legal obligation to take over the external debts of the former Austrian Federal Government. Moreover, they are unable to share the view that the abovementioned loans contributed to the financial reconstruction of the former Austrian Republic, inasmuch as the economic and financial relations under the regime of international financial assistance did not succeed in restoring Austria to a sound condition. For these reasons the German Government think it unnecessary to go further into the details of the proposal of the Committee of the Guarantor States which you forwarded to them.”