Foreign Relations of the United States, 1951, The Near East and Africa, Volume V

262.84A41/3–1251

The Secretary of State to the Ambassador of Israel (Eban)¹

The Secretary of State presents his compliments to His Excellency the Ambassador of Israel and has the honor to refer to the Embassy’s note of March 12, 1951 requesting reparations from Germany.²

The Government of Israel must be aware of the revulsion which the monstrous crime against humanity perpetrated by the Nazis in their planned extermination and despoliation of the Jewish peoples of Europe aroused in the American people and their government. The Government of Israel must also be aware that from the inception of the occupation of Germany, it was the determined policy of the Government of the United States to bring before the bar of justice those persons responsible for the planning and execution of the crime and, to the greatest possible extent, to undo the wrongs inflicted on the victims of Nazi persecution. Special measures taken by the United States Government in implementation of that policy were elaborated in the Department’s note of March 21, 1951 to the Embassy of Israel, and the Department again assures the Embassy of the continuing concern of the Government of the United States for mitigating the effects of Nazi cruelty.

The Government of Israel, in support of its request for reparation from Germany, alleges that it is the only state which can speak on behalf of the Jewish people and that the claims of the Jewish people were disregarded in the allocation of reparations from Germany. In connection with those allegations, the Government of the United States calls attention to the following considerations:

• (a) Throughout the period of Nazi domination of Germany, the United States and other countries offered sanctuary to many thousands of persons of Jewish origin fleeing from their Nazi persecutors. At the end of the war it enacted special laws to open its doors to the flood of unfortunate people made homeless, destitute and infirm by the ravages of war and oppression. Furthermore, the Governments of the United States, the United Kingdom, and France have made the major contribution to the International Refugee Organization, which has facilitated the resettlement of Jews in Israel. These voluntary acts of assistance demonstrate the concern for and the large measure of responsibility which the Government of the United States has assumed for the welfare of the Jewish victims of Nazi oppression.
• (b) Although they were not represented at the Paris Reparation Conference, the claims of the persecutees were given special consideration. The Paris Reparation Agreement allotted all non-monetary gold found in Germany, a fund of $25,000,000 from German external assets to be liquidated in the countries which remained neutral during the war, and all assets in neutral countries of victims of Nazi action who died without heirs for the relief and rehabilitation of non-repatriable victims of German action. It was recognized at the time that the overwhelming majority of these victims were Jewish, and immediately thereafter the Five Power Agreement of 1946 provided that ninety percent of the $25,000,000 fund and non-monetary gold and ninety-five percent of the heirless properties should be used for such victims. Furthermore, the Government of the United States notes that pursuant to the agreement between the Government of Israel and the Government of the United Kingdom of March 30, 1950, the latter turned over to the Government of Israel the proportion of reparation in respect of the mandate for Palestine which was received by the British Government under the Paris Reparation Agreement.

In bringing to the attention of the Government of Israel the reparations and indemnities thus far received by the Jewish refugees, the Government of the United States does not imply that it regards them as full compensation for their sufferings. It concurs in the view of the Israeli Government that no material compensation can be sufficient. It would point out, however, that many nations and peoples experienced tremendous losses and sufferings at the hands of the Nazis and that none can expect its reparation receipts to reflect compensation in any substantial measure.

The Government of the United States must also point out the bearing of certain agreements, to which it is a party, on further reparation demands on Germany. Immediately following the termination of hostilities, the Occupying Powers established the form of reparations to be exacted from Germany; in so doing they agreed that reparations must be of a character which would not impose a financial burden on the Allies, and that policy is unchanged. They then convoked a conference of those nations which made the greatest contribution to winning the war, for the purpose of distributing the share in German reparation allocated to the three Western Powers under the Potsdam Protocol. From that conference emerged the Paris Reparation Agreement, which not only determined the percentage share in reparation of the signatories but also provided that the reparation receipts shall be regarded as covering all their claims against Germany arising out of the war but without prejudice to the final settlement of German reparations. The effect of these decisions is to preclude the assertion by the Government of the United States, on its own behalf or on behalf of other states, of further reparation demands on Germany pending a definitive settlement in the nature of a peace treaty. It is impossible to predict when such a settlement will be possible.

The Government of the United States therefore regrets that it cannot impose on the Government of the German Federal Republic an obligation to pay reparation to Israel as a condition to implementation of the decision reached by the Foreign Ministers at their conference in Brussels to place Allied-German relations on a new basis. The Government of the United States wishes to emphasize, however, that the new relationship will not effect a definitive settlement of all problems arising out of the war and that it will not prejudice the consideration of further claims for reparation in the negotiation of a final settlement with Germany in the nature of a peace treaty.

Washington, [July 5, 1951.]

1. This note was cleared by the Deputy Under Secretary of State, Mr. Matthews, and by Secretary Acheson, who took it with him to the White House on July 5 in order to inform the President of its substance. The President approved the note on July 5. (Memorandum by Mr. G. Lewis Jones to Mr. McGhee, July 5, and memorandum of conversation with the President by the Secretary of State, July 5, neither printed; McGhee Files: Lot 53 D 468) With respect to the presentation of the note to Israeli Minister, see the memorandum of conversation, infra.
2. See the memorandum of conversation, March 19, p. 604.