§ Mr. Lewisasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he is aware that the West German Government have appointed, as their consul in Hong Kong, Dr. Otto Braeutigam, who was a high official in the Nazi Government, and was connected with the liquidation of Jews, was tried at Nuremberg, and was suspended by the West German Foreign Office in 1956 for investigation into his wartime activities; and whether he will inform the West German Government that this man is unacceptable to Her Majesty's Government as German Consul in Hong Kong.
§ Mr. Ian HarveyThe appointment of Dr. Otto Bräutigam as Consul-General of the Federal Republic of Germany in Hong Kong was announced to my right hon. and learned Friend by the German Ambassador in January. Dr. Bräutigam joined the German Foreign Service in 1920. He was also for a time a member of the Nazi Party, but I am informed that he was expelled from it in 1940. He was not tried as a war criminal. He rejoined the Foreign Service in 1953.
In January, 1956, the German Government ordered an inquiry into accusations which had been published against Dr. Bräutigam's conduct during the war, and he was meanwhile suspended from his 80W functions in the Foreign Ministry. The inquiry concluded that the accusations against Dr. Bräutigam were incorrect, and that he had in fact done all he could to assist Jews and people persecuted by the Third Reich. My right hon. and learned Friend sees no reason to object to the appointment.