§ 2.47 p.m.
§ EARL MANVERSMy Lords, I beg to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask His Majesty's Government whether any (and if so what) steps are being taken in Germany for the restoration of property looted by the Nazis, and our other opponents, from the Jews and other possibly friendly parties.]
THE PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (THE MARQUESS OF READING)My Lords, in accordance with the principles of the United Nations Declaration of January, 1943, on acts of dispossession, looted property found in Germany at the end of the war has, where possible, been returned to the Government of the territory from which it had been removed. Property in Germany of which Jewish and other victims of Nazi persecution had between 1933 and 1945 been unjustly deprived is being recovered through the German courts by its former owners, in pursuance of Allied legislation such as Military Government Law 59 in the British Zone of Germany. External restitution—that is, the restitution to Governments of property looted outside Germany—is virtually complete. Many claims, however, remain to be dealt with by the German courts under the Internal Restitution Laws. A Committee was appointed earlier this year by the noble Lord, Lord Henderson, with the approval of the late Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, to examine the progress made in this field, and to investigate causes of 351 delay in the British Zone of Germany. The O'Sullivan Committee's Report, dated June 30, 1951, and an account of the action taken by His Majesty's Government to implement it, have recently been published by the Stationery Office.
§ EARL MANVERSMy Lords, in thanking the noble Marquess for his courteous reply, may I ask him whether he is aware that a 25 per cent. flight tax was at one time levied, plus a 33 per cent. fine for the murder of a diplomatic official, one Herr von Rath, by a Polish Jew in Paris, and whether he will not agree that in the American Zone things have been more rapidly dealt with?
THE MARQUESS OF READINGMy Lords, I am afraid that I have no information as to the particular case which the noble Earl mentioned. If the second part of his question applies specifically to the first part, I can give no answer. But, if the second part of his question is meant to be of general application and to suggest that progress in restitution has been quicker in the American Zone than in ours, then I think it is right to say that one of the considerations which led to the appointment of the O'Sullivan Committee was that progress was more rapid in that Zone than in the British Zone. It is hoped that the recommendations of that Committee will now speedily assist in accelerating progress.
§ EARL MANVERSI thank the noble Marquess very much.