The reparations pact between West Germany and Israel is a “sincere effort on the part of the German people to make amends for atrocities perpetrated in Germany’s name,” State Secretary Walter Hallstein, who is acting chief of the Foreign Office, declared here today.
Prof. Hallstein made his statement in a frontpage interview in “Das Parliament,” an official weekly published by the West German Government’s Central Propaganda Agency. A special 10-page issue of “Das Parliament,” featuring the interview with Prof. Hallstein, was issued today devoted solely to relations between West Germany and Israel.
Prof. Hallstein points to the improvement of relations with Israel in the last few years, characterizes the reparations agreement as the country’s atonement for Nazi atrocities, and discusses the possibility of early resumption of diplomatic relations with the Jewish State.
Concerning the diplomatic relations between the two countries, he declares that “such matters must be permitted to reach fruition in their own good time.” It is this country’s desire, he continues, “to create a climate of confidence–not the least factor being our faithful carrying out of the reparations agreement.”
The interview with Prof. Hallstein was written by Rolf Vogel, a Catholic, who, last spring, was the first German newspaperman to be accredited in Israel by that country’s Foreign Office. Vogel also writes in the current, special issue of “Das Parliament” about his experiences in Israel, lauding Israeli achievements there.
Another contributor to the special issue is Dr. F.E. Shinnar, head of the Is Purchasing Mission which is in charge of buying reparations goods here for the.
Another contributor to the special issue is Dr. F.E. Shinnar, head of the Israel Purchasing Mission which is in charge of buying reparations goods here for the Jewish State. Dr. Shinnar praises the Federal Republic’s performance in implementing the reparatins program “both in letter and in spirit.”
With strong approval, Dr. Shinnar quotes a statement made last year by Chancellor Konrad Adenauer who had stressed the need for patience and for the “reliance upon the curative power of time” for the greater improvement of Israel-German relations, while expressing the hope that the reparations pact would eventually lead to normalization of those relations.
ISSUE OF BRINGING GERMAN TECHNICIANS TO ISRAEL RAISED
Dr. Shinnar also touches upon the ticklish issue of bringing German workmen to Israel. The complex reparations machinery, he declares, can not be utilized fully without expert technical advice–and he points out that “the normal course of events will lead automatically to the employment of German technicians, but only in a future stage of development that must be reached gradually.”
Other contributors to the special issue are Dr. Walter Eytan, director-general of the Israel Foreign Ministry; and Dr. Uri Naor, press attache for the Israel Purchasing Mission in this country. The special issue of “Das Parliament” quotes at length from recent addresses by Dr. Theodor Heuss, president of the Federal Republic; and Prof. Franz Boehm, former head of the German delegation which negotiated the reparations pact at The Hague.
The government is distributing the special “Israel” issue of the paper to about 35,000 teachers of history and religion in this country, in addition to the regular subscription list of political scientists and ethers interested in foreign affairs. Copies of the special issue of “Das Parliament” have also been furnished by the government for inclusion as an insert in the Algemeine Wochenzeitung, Jewish weekly published in Dusseldorf.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
