This is the first comprehensive history of Jewish negotiations with East Germany regarding restitution and reparations for Nazi war crimes. Angelika Timm analyzes the politics of old and new anti-Semitism and the context in which they grew under the officially propagated ideology of antifascism.
Investigating the mass of unpublished, newly available archival data from the United States, Israel, and the former German Democratic Republic, and more than forty personal interviews, Timm fills a critical gap in the scholarship on postwar Germany. She analyzes the role of the Holocaust and the image of Jews in the historical consciousness and political culture of East Germany and chronicles the efforts of Jewish organizations, especially the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, to negotiate reparations with the East German state. The unique relationship between ideology and Realpolitik defined the manner in which East Germany confronted the crimes of its past and allowed anti-Semitism to reemerge.
Prof. Angelika Timm received a Ph. D. in the history of Palestine from Humboldt University, Berlin where she was the head of the Seminar for Israel Studies until 1998. She had a research position at the Free University in Berlin (1999 to 2002) and taught as a guest professor at the Department of Political Studies, Bar-Ilan University, Israel (2002-2007). She was the director of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation’s Israel Office 2008 – 2015.
Preface
1 Background
The Impact of the Holocaust on Jewish Life
Political Developments in East Germany
2 Jews in East Germany
The Jewish Community: Recovery and Restitution
The Attitude of the SED toward Anti-Semitism and the Holocaust
The Reality of Anti-Semitism
Restitution and Compensation during the Early
Postwar Years
3 Initial Talks and Negotiations
Jewish Material Claims against Germany
The Response of the East German Political Elite
International Recognition of the GDR and Initial Talks with the Claims Conference
American Claims against the GDR
Diplomatic Negotiations
4 New Accents in the Eighties
Priorities of East German Foreign Policy
The Package Deal
The World Jewish Congress in Action 143; Political Changes in Germany, 1989-90
The Burdened Relationship between the GDR and the State of Israel
Confronting the Past
5 Outlook and Conclusions
Unification and Attempts to Settle the Claims Issue
Conclusions
Appendix
Notes
Bibliography
Interviews
Index
