§ The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps have been taken and are to be taken to obtain compensation from the German Democratic Republic for material losses sustained by the victims of Nazi persecution in East Germany.
§ THE MINISTER OF STATE, FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH OFFICE (BARONESS TWEEDSMUIR OF BELHELVIE)My Lords, we raised the question of compensation for victims of Nazi persecution during talks held earlier this year on the establishment of diplomatic relations. It was agreed then that each Government would be entitled in subsequent negotiations to raise any questions it wished relating to claims. We have recently proposed to the Government of the German Democratic Republic that there should be a preliminary round of talks on the whole range of claims questions in the near future.
LORD JANNERMy Lords, while thanking the noble Baroness for that reply and for the previous reply which she gave on this matter, and while also thanking the Government for having raised the matter in the way they did at the meeting the other day, I should like to ask the noble Baroness whether she would consider ways and means by which other Governments—let me put it this way: other civilised Governments—would be prepared to support her and those who 372 supported her at the meeting in pressing on the East German Government the obligation on them to see to it that these people are properly compensated. Nobody asks for compensation for the moral wrong and for the terrible things the Nazis did in that regard, but people should certainly be compensated for what they have lost in a material way. Would the noble Baroness be good enough to do all she possibly can to persuade the rest of the nations in this way?
§ BARONESS TWEEDSMUIR OF BELHELVEMy Lords, I think we shall first have to raise this question in the talks which we hope to have with the G.D.R. I know the noble Lord will be aware that the public position of the G.D.R. Government is that it does not in principle accept liability for the actions of the Third Reich, but we will do our best.