German Reparations and the Jewish World

German Reparations and the Jewish World
Author: Ronald W. Zweig
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 245
Release: 2014-02-25
Genre: History
ISBN: 1135277907

German Reparations and the Jewish World" has become a standard reference work since it was first published. Based extensively on archival sources, the author examines the difficult debate within the Jewish world whether it was possible to reach a material settlement with Germany so soon after Auschwitz. Concentrating on how the money was spent in rebuilding Jewish life, he also analyzes how the reparations payments transformed the relations bteween Israel and the diaspora, and between different Jewish political and ideological groups. This revised and expanded edition includes material on sensitive relief programmes from archives that have only recently been opened to researchers. In a new, extensive introductory essay the author reexamines the reparations, restitution and indemnification processes from the perspective of 50 years later.

The Reparations Controversy

The Reparations Controversy
Author: Yaakov Sharett
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter
Total Pages: 416
Release: 2011-08-29
Genre: History
ISBN: 3110255383

This book about the reparations issue ("Wiedergutmachung" in German; "shilumim" in Hebrew) brings together selected protocols of all debates held in the Knesset, in its Foreign Affairs and Security Committee, in the Government and in the high councils of the ruling party Mapai, regarding conducting negotiations with the West German Government. This is the first book documenting confidential protocols lately opened to the public. With the elaborate introduction by Yehiam Weitz, this book will serve as a basic textbook for an important chapter not only in Israeli and German history, but also in post-war history in general.

Paying for the Past

Paying for the Past
Author: Christian Pross
Publisher: JHU Press
Total Pages: 300
Release: 1998-08-25
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780801858246

Finally available in English, this edition of Paying for the Past contains a new preface by the author and an afterword by medical ethicist Erich Loewy which places the ethical issues raised by the West German experiences with reparations into an international context.

Repressed, Remitted, Rejected

Repressed, Remitted, Rejected
Author: Dr. Karl Heinz Roth
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Total Pages: 442
Release: 2021-12-10
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1800732589

Since unification, the Federal Republic of Germany has made vaunted efforts to make amends for the crimes of the Third Reich. Yet it remains the case that the demands for restitution by many countries that were occupied during the Second World War are unresolved, and recent demands from Greece and Poland have only reignited old debates. This book reconstructs the German occupation of Poland and Greece and gives a thorough accounting of these debates. Working from the perspective of international law, it deepens the scholarly discourse around the issue, clarifying the ‘never-ending story’ of German reparations policy and making a principled call for further action. A compilation of primary sources comprising 125 annotated key texts (512 pages) on the complexity of reparations discussions covering the period between 1941 and the end of 2017 is available for free on the Berghahn Books website, doi: 10.3167/9781800732575.dd.

Germany and Israel

Germany and Israel
Author: Daniel Marwecki
Publisher: Hurst & Company
Total Pages: 284
Release: 2020
Genre: Germany (West)
ISBN: 1787383180

According to common perception, the Federal Republic of Germany supported the formation of the Israeli state for moral reasons--to atone for its Nazi past--but did not play a significant role in the Arab-Israeli conflict. However, the historical record does not sustain this narrative. Daniel Marwecki's pathbreaking analysis deconstructs the myths surrounding the odd alliance between Israel and post-war democratic Germany. Thorough archival research shows how German policymakers often had disingenuous, cynical or even partly antisemitic motivations, seeking to whitewash their Nazi past by supporting the new Israeli state. This is the true context of West Germany's crucial backing of Israel in the 1950s and '60s. German economic and military support greatly contributed to Israel's early consolidation and eventual regional hegemony. This initial alliance has affected Germany's role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to the present day. Marwecki reassesses German foreign policymaking and identity-shaping, and raises difficult questions about German responsibility after the Holocaust, exploring the many ways in which the genocide of European Jews and the dispossession of the Palestinians have become tragically intertwined in the Middle East's international politics. This long overdue investigation sheds new light on a major episode in the history of the modern Middle East.

Germany and Israel

Germany and Israel
Author: George Lavy
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 235
Release: 2014-01-14
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1135209022

In 1952, the Federal Republic of West Germany concluded a treaty with Israel whereby the Germans had to pay three billion Deutschmarks in compensation for the Holocaust. However, the Israelis felt that Germany owed Israel a moral as well as a financial debt, and thus expected further aid and protection. Although Germany made several concessions in favour of the Jewish State, particularly in the domain of armament, as Germany's political status increased, its national interest gradually took priority over that of Israel. This book examines the grounds which motivated Germany to grant aid to Israel and the change in their relations as the German economy flourished and gained influence in world affairs.

The Handbook of Reparations

The Handbook of Reparations
Author: Pablo De Greiff
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 1055
Release: 2008
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0199545707

This is a comprehensive study of reparation programmes, containing a blend of case-study analysis, thematic papers and national legislation documents from leading scholars and practitioners.

Ambiguous Relations

Ambiguous Relations
Author: Shlomo Shafir
Publisher: Wayne State University Press
Total Pages: 540
Release: 1999
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780814327234

Ambiguous Relations addresses for the first time the complex relationship between American Jews and Germany over the fifty years following the end of World War II, and examines American Jewry's ambiguous attitude toward Germany that continues despite sociological and generational changes within the community. Shlomo Shafir recounts attempts by American Jews to influence U.S. policy toward Germany after the war and traces these efforts through President Reagan's infamous visit to Bitburg and beyond. He shows how Jewish demands for justice were hampered not only by America's changing attitude toward West Germany as a post-war European power but also by the distraction of anti-communist hysteria in this country.

Learning from the Germans

Learning from the Germans
Author: Susan Neiman
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Total Pages: 280
Release: 2019-08-27
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0374715521

As an increasingly polarized America fights over the legacy of racism, Susan Neiman, author of the contemporary philosophical classic Evil in Modern Thought, asks what we can learn from the Germans about confronting the evils of the past In the wake of white nationalist attacks, the ongoing debate over reparations, and the controversy surrounding Confederate monuments and the contested memories they evoke, Susan Neiman’s Learning from the Germans delivers an urgently needed perspective on how a country can come to terms with its historical wrongdoings. Neiman is a white woman who came of age in the civil rights–era South and a Jewish woman who has spent much of her adult life in Berlin. Working from this unique perspective, she combines philosophical reflection, personal stories, and interviews with both Americans and Germans who are grappling with the evils of their own national histories. Through discussions with Germans, including Jan Philipp Reemtsma, who created the breakthrough Crimes of the Wehrmacht exhibit, and Friedrich Schorlemmer, the East German dissident preacher, Neiman tells the story of the long and difficult path Germans faced in their effort to atone for the crimes of the Holocaust. In the United States, she interviews James Meredith about his battle for equality in Mississippi and Bryan Stevenson about his monument to the victims of lynching, as well as lesser-known social justice activists in the South, to provide a compelling picture of the work contemporary Americans are doing to confront our violent history. In clear and gripping prose, Neiman urges us to consider the nuanced forms that evil can assume, so that we can recognize and avoid them in the future.

Reparations for Victims of Genocide, War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity

Reparations for Victims of Genocide, War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity
Author: Carla Ferstman
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 585
Release: 2009
Genre: Law
ISBN: 9004174494

This book provides detailed analyses of systems that have been established to provide reparations to victims of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, and the way in which these systems have worked and are working in practice. Many of these systems are described and assessed for the first time in an academic publication. The publication draws upon a groundbreaking Conference organised by the Clemens Nathan Research Centre (CNRC) and REDRESS at the Peace Palace in The Hague, with the support of the Dutch Carnegie Foundation. Both CNRC and REDRESS had become very concerned about the extreme difficulty encountered by most victims of serious international crimes in attempting to access effective and enforceable remedies and reparation for harm suffered. In discussions between the Conference organisers and Judges and officials of the International Criminal Court, it became ever more apparent that there was a great need for frank and open exchanges on the question of effective reparation, between the representatives of victims, of NGOs and IGOs, and other experts. It was clear to all that the many current initiatives of governments and regional and international institutions to afford reparations to victims of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes could benefit greatly by taking into full account the wide and varied practice that had been built up over several decades. In particular, the Hague Conference sought to consider in detail the long experience of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims against Germany (the Claims Conference) in respect of Holocaust restitution programmes, as well as the practice of truth commissions, arbitral proceedings and a variety of national processes to identify common trends, best practices and lessons. This book thus explores the actions of governments, as well as of national and international courts and commissions in applying, processing, implementing and enforcing a variety of reparations schemes and awards. Crucially, it considers the entire complex of issues from the perspective of the beneficiaries - survivors and their communities - and from the perspective of the policy-makers and implementers tasked with resolving technical and procedural challenges in bringing to fruition adequate, effective and meaningful reparations in the context of mass victimisation.