Opinion ID: 76720
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The International Agreements Addressing WWII Claims

Text: 8 After the end of WWII, there were several international agreements addressing restitution and reparations. In its sector of occupied Germany, the United States enacted military laws requiring that property taken by the Nazi Regime be restored and providing that individuals could bring claims for restitution of identifiable property. In 1954, the United States government, together with the British and French governments, entered into an agreement to unite their sectors into an independent West German government. See Termination of the Occupation Regime in the Federal Republic of Germany, Oct. 23, 1954, 6 U.S.T. 4117. This agreement reaffirmed Germany's obligation to provide restitution as prescribed by United States' military law. 3 9 In addition to claims by German nationals, the West German government also faced claims based on its wartime activities by other governments and foreign nationals. Many of the post-war treaties called for reparations, but the 1953 London Debt Agreement-an effort by Western powers to reindustrialize West Germany to help fight the Cold War-suspended these obligations. The suspension of claims was viewed as a suspension of the reparations question until a final post-war treaty on Germany was concluded, which did not occur until 1990 when Germany was reunified. In the 1990s, class-action lawsuits against the German government and private German companies increased dramatically in American courts, which caused considerable concern in Germany. In an effort to stem American litigation, the German government sought to enter into an international agreement with the United States to remove this litigation to an alternative forum based in Germany. 10 In 2000, President Clinton entered into an agreement with the German government (the Foundation Agreement) aimed at achieving a legal peace. 4 See Agreement concerning the Foundation Remembrance, Responsibility and the Future, July 17, 2000, U.S.-F.R.G., 39 I.L.M. 1298. In the agreement, the German government agreed to establish a private foundation, the Foundation Remembrance, Responsibility, and the Future (the Foundation), to hear claims brought by victims of the Nazi regime. 5 The Foundation is funded by voluntary contributions from the German government and German companies. Both the United States government and the German government argue that this fund offers compensation to victims of the Nazi regime that would not be available through traditional litigation. 11 In return, the United States agreed to encourage its courts and state governments to respect the Foundation as the exclusive forum for claims from the National Socialist era. The agreement, however, did not suspend or transfer lawsuits in American courts to Germany. Instead, the United States promised to file a Statement of Interest in any lawsuit dealing with WWII restitution or reparations. 6 The statement would inform United States courts that it is in the foreign policy interests of the United States for the case to be dismissed on any valid legal ground but would not suggest that the agreement itself provides an independent legal basis for dismissal.