HC Deb 02 February 1981 vol 998 cc35-6W
Mr. Rooker

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will take action to compensate those British citizens whose compensation payments from the West German Government in respect of spells in wartime concentration camps is being reduced by the continuing high value of the £ sterling against the mark.

Mr. Ridley

I have been asked to reply.

Under an agreement signed on 9 June 1964 the Federal German Republic paid Her Majesty's Government the sum of £1 million for the benefit of United Kingdom nationals who had been victims of National Socialist persecution, in final settlement of all questions concerning compensation for such persecution.

The last payments of compensation under this agreement were made in November 1966 and as those payments were in the form of lump sums and there were no continuing payments, the question of compensation for later fluctuations in rates of exchange should not arise.

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