Dutch Hospitality: The 1952 German-Jewish-Israeli Negotiations amid Post-Holocaust  and Post-Imperial Tensions

Lorena De Vita

doi:10.51769/bmgn-lchr.7062

Dutch Hospitality

The 1952 German-Jewish-Israeli Negotiations amid Post-Holocaust and Post-Imperial Tensions

Author(s)

Lorena De Vita Utrecht University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.51769/bmgn-lchr.7062

Keywords:

Germany, Israel, Reconciliation, Diplomacy, Wassenaar, Terrorism

Abstract

In March 1952, representatives of the Federal Republic of Germany, Israel and the Conference on Jewish Material Claims against Germany (JCC) met in a secret location in the Netherlands to negotiate about reparations (Wiedergutmachung / shilumim). This was the first official meeting between German, Jewish and Israeli representatives in the aftermath of the Holocaust, and it took place in Wassenaar. Based on diplomatic, intelligence and police archival sources, in combination with oral history interviews and news reports, this article examines the Netherlands’ involvement in hosting these negotiations. It illuminates the circumstances leading to the Dutch assent to hosting these talks and demonstrates the crucial importance of the Dutch intelligence and police forces in protecting the safety of the negotiators from terror attacks.

In maart 1952 ontmoetten vertegenwoordigers van de Bondsrepubliek Duitsland, Israël en de Conference on Jewish Material Claims against Germany (JCC) elkaar op een geheime locatie in Nederland om te onderhandelen over herstelbetalingen (Wiedergutmachung / shilumim). Deze eerste officiële bijeenkomst van Duitse, Joodse en Israëlische vertegenwoordigers in de nasleep van de Holocaust vond plaats in Wassenaar. Op basis van zowel bronnen van diplomatieke, politionele en inlichtingendiensten, als mondelinge getuigenissen en nieuwsberichten wordt in dit artikel de Nederlandse betrokkenheid bij de organisatie van deze onderhandelingen onderzocht. Het licht de context toe waarin Nederland toestemde om het gastland voor deze bijeenkomst te worden en het toont aan dat de Nederlandse inlichtingen- en politiediensten van cruciaal belang waren voor het beveiligen van de onderhandelaars tegen terreuraanvallen.

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Author Biography

Lorena De Vita, Utrecht University

Lorena De Vita is Assistant Professor in the History of International Relations at Utrecht University. Her work explores the nexus between diplomacy, memory and international security in the twentieth century. De Vita is currently leading a five-year research project titled: Holocaust Diplomacy: The Global Politics of Memory and Forgetting funded by the Alfred Landecker Foundation (€500,000). Her research has been published in leading academic journals, such as International Affairs and Cold War History, and in public outlets, such as Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte, The Conversation and The Washington Post. She has held several competitive fellowships, including at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem (Foreign Ministry Postdoctoral Visiting Scholar) and at the Memorial House of the Wannsee Conference in Berlin (Joseph Wulf Fellowship). She is the author of Israelpolitik: German-Israeli Relations 1949-1969 (Manchester 2020). E-mail: l.devita@uu.nl.

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Published

2022-06-28

Issue

Vol. 137 No. 2 (2022)

Section

Articles

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How to Cite

De Vita, L. (2022). Dutch Hospitality: The 1952 German-Jewish-Israeli Negotiations amid Post-Holocaust and Post-Imperial Tensions. BMGN - Low Countries Historical Review, 137(2), 4-29. https://doi.org/10.51769/bmgn-lchr.7062