President Truman today asked Congress to end the state of war with Germany. He proposed adoption of a resolution formally ending the war, to become effective on Presidential proclamation. At the same time, Britain and France announced the end of the state of war with Germany and the British Government immediately notified the West German Government at Bonn to that effect.
Prior to today’s action, the Big Three communicated with other Allied government at war with Germany, including the State of Israel. While Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Italy followed suit and announced the end of the war with Germany, Israel refused to take such action.
President Truman assured Congress that ending the state of war would not affect the status of the occupation of Germany nor such questions as reparations. The President said that termination of the technical state of war ” will represent another and logical step on the road which leads toward the eventual restoration of German independence ” and added that ” such action will give the German people a new demonstration of our desire to help bring them back to membership among the nations of the free world.”
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.