HL Deb 18 June 1959 vol 216 cc1255-6
VISCOUNT ELIBANK

My Lords, I beg to ask Her Majesty's Government the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

[The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they can give the names of the three Germans on the Krupp Mixed Committee, and their political, business, economic or other associations.]

THE JOINT PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNE)

My Lords, the three German members appointed are Dr. Wilhelm Vocke, former President of the Deutscher Länder Bank, and a well-known anti-Nazi; Dr. Rolf Stodter, Judge of the Hamburg Constitutional Court, Professor of International Law at the University of Hamburg, and a partner in a shipping firm; and Herr Ludwig Kattenstroth, an Under-Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Economics, who formerly worked in the economic administration of the combined Western Zones of Germany.

VISCOUNT ELIBANK

My Lords, I thank the noble Marquess for his Answer. May I ask whether the seventh member under the terms of Article X of the Bonn Convention has yet been elected; and can the noble Marquess say whether he has any idea when the meetings of the Mixed Committee are to commence?

THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNE

The answer to the first part of the question is that the seventh member has not yet been elected; he will be elected by the other six. In answer to the second part of the question, the Committee are to meet on June 25.

LORD OGMORE

My Lords, may I ask the noble Marquess whether the second and third gentlemen he mentioned are also anti-Nazis?

THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNE

I have rather more complete biographical information, if your Lordships would care to hear it. Dr. Wilhelm Vocke is known as a fervent Protestant and anti-Nazi; Dr. Rolf Stodter has no known political affiliations, either now or during the Nazi period. As for the third gentleman, Herr Ludwig Kattenstroth, he was not a member of a Nazi Party, and has no known political affiliation.

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