Israel’s reparation claims should be held separate from Germany’s contractual obligations and the amount of restitution Germany may pay Israel and the Jewish organizations should not be figured in capacity to pay the financial correspondent of The Times of London said today.
He pointed out that Germany’s creditors are now being asked to write off virtually seven-eighths of their contractual claims. “This is the multiple of the amount which would be written off the Government of Israel’s claims for repayment of postwar assistance under the recent proposals.” the correspondent declared. He pointed out that the reduction of the Israel claims would be even greater since those claims had already been reduced about one-third.
“It is commendable that Germany should seek to make restitution, ” the paper declared. “But it is also essential that she should make such restitution out of her own special efforts and additional sacrifices. Without that, there would be nothing to commend. In fact, she is proposing to make this restitution entirely at the expense of her contractual creditors. But nobody could have less responsibility for the terrible wrongs to members of the Jewish race done by Hitler’s Germany. It is no part of their duty to undertake restitution on Germany’s behalf. That obligation belongs to Germany and the German citizens alone. In other words. the amount of any such restitution should rigorously be excluded from any calculations on Germany’s ordinary capacity to pay.”
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.
