The World : East German Reparations

The president of the World Jewish Congress said that East Germany has agreed to accept moral responsibility and pay reparations to Jewish “sufferers and survivors” of the Nazi Holocaust. Edgar M. Bronfman spoke to reporters at the end of a three-day visit to East Germany that included meetings with Erich Honecker, president and Communist Party chief, Foreign Minister Oskar Fischer and other officials. Bronfman gave no details on the reparations. He also said he hopes for better relations between East Germany and Israel, which have never recognized each other diplomatically. “I have been given the understanding that serious consideration” is being given the establishment of ties, he said.