The German Social Democratic Party is pressing the Adenauer Government for speedy agreement with the Israel Government on its reparations claims, it was indicated here in sources close to the Socialist party.
Dr. Kurt Schumacher, head of the party, was reported drafting a statement which supports the Israeli claims and calls upon the Bonn Government to resume discussions with the Israelis immediately. The party, the largest opposition group in West Germany, has publicly backed Chancellor Konrad Adenauer’s decision to offer indemnification to the Jews and has adopted resolutions hailing inauguration of The Hague talks.
The Dusseldorf Nachrichten, a German newspaper, today said that Bonn has made the “essential gestures” in offering to pay part of the Israeli claim and in accepting the Israeli thesis that the claims should be based on the actual cost of rehabilitation in Israel of the Jewish victims. It added that the German Government will have to consider the additional Jewish claims for restitution and for compensation to individuals, insisting that “any German delegation would be a bit casual if it accepted all these claims without demurring.”
The Hamburg newspaper Die Welt felt that the German delegation to The Hague talks must consider all of Germany’s obligations, including those of rebuilding her own economy and her contributions to the defense of Western Europe, in making any offer to the Jews. Otherwise, it said the West German offer would be “an empty phrase” if it could not be honored.
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