Germany and Israel

In 1952 the Federal Republic of Germany concluded a treaty with Israel in terms of which the Germans were to pay three billion Deutschmarks in compensation for the murder of Jews by Hitler's regime during the Second World War. This was an extremely large sum at that time considering that Germany was still recovering from the war, but the Israelis felt that Germany owed Israel a financial as well as a moral debt and thus expected further aid and protection.

In the early 1960s a secret arms agreement was reached whereby Germany delivered quantities of weapons to Israel, which felt threatened by its Arab neighbours. This was followed by more economic aid. There was enthusiastic moral support by the German public during the Six-Day War and in 1973 Germany was one of the few European countries to allow American weapons to be sent from its territory to Israel, then engaged in the Yom Kippur War.

The political status of West Germany gradually increased, however, and this caused it to give greater emphasis to its own national interest. The result was a cooling in the relationship between the two countries. This book examines the reasons that motivated Germany to grant aid to Israel and the change in their relations as the German economy flourished and gained influence in world affairs.