All Quiet on the Eastern Front; Israel and the Issue of Reparations from East-germany, 1951–1956

The article reviews and analyzes the measures taken by Israel from the beginning of 1951 until the middle of 1956 in its attempt to extract collective compensation (referred to in Israeli terminology as shilumim and hereinafter as “reparations”) from the GDR (East-Germany). Existing research on the subject has revealed that as of yet there has been almost no discussion of it. Only two sources have dealt in a substantive manner with Israel’s attempts to obtain reparations from the GDR during 1951–56: Angelika Timm in a sub-chapter to the issue in Jewish Claims against East Germany, and Michael Wolffsohn’s article, “Das Deutsch-Israelische Wiedergutmachungsabkommen von 1952 im Internationalen Zusammenhang.” However, these two writers analyze the subject only briefly—each devoting only 8 pages to the issue, based on sources cited in some 30 footnotes. In contrast, this article provides an in-depth understanding of the subject, including all the aspects from different perspectives, some of which are not discussed in the above-mentioned writings. First and foremost, the article reviews all of the actions taken by Israel regarding this subject, while focusing on the connection that was made between the two Israeli claims for reparations: from the GDR and from FRG (West-Germany).