Israelis, Germans Deny Report Germany Increased Reparations Offer

The Israel delegation to the Israel-German reparations negotiations here today denied a report broadcast by Radio Holland last night that the West German delegation had increased its offer to Israel from three billion deutschemarks to 3,400,000,000 marks. The delegation declared that the report was entirely “without foundation.”

The report was also denied by a spokesman for the German delegation. “The basis for the story undoubtedly lies in the fact that we hope to add a sum agreed upon with the Claims Conference to the good we will send to Israel and leave it to the Israel Government to arrange for payment to the Claims Conference of the latter’s share,” the spokesman said. “Whoever issued the story in Bonn about the extra 400 million marks undoubtedly had this in mind,” he added.

He stressed, however, that the figure of 400 million marks is “nothing more than a guess,” since no amount had yet been set for an offer to the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany. He reported that the Conference and the Israel delegation have not yet agreed to this procedure. If there is any objection to it, he continued, a new procedure will have to be worked out.

The Claims Conference delegation and the Germans are scheduled to meet in plenary session tomorrow, when Prof. Franz Boehm, German delegation head, returns from consultations in Bonn. Israeli-German sub-committees working out details of the German offer will also meet tomorrow.

(Dr. Nahum Goldmann, presiding officer of the Conference on Jewish Claims, left today by air for London to attend meetings of the praesidium and policy committee of the Conference on July 1 and 2, respectively. Mrs. Rose Halprin will assume the chairmanship of the American Section of the Jewish Agency during Dr. Goldmann’s absence.)