On 10 September 1952, in Luxembourg, the State of Israel and the Federal Republic of Germany sign the Reparations Agreement (Luxemburger Abkommen / Heskem HaShillumim) — the FRG’s commitment to pay DM 3 billion to Israel for resettling Jewish refugees and DM 450 million for the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.

The preamble invokes Nazi crimes, the Bundestag declaration of 27 September 1951 and Israel’s resettlement burden. The total of DM 3.45 billion is paid in annual instalments, mainly as goods and services for refugee settlement.

Entry into force: 27 March 1953, by exchange of ratification instruments at the UN; the FRG declared the agreement also covered West Berlin. The text appears in UNTS vol. 162 (No. 2137).

The agreement marked the start of de facto diplomatic relations and sparked intense controversy in Israel.

For post-Holocaust history, 10 September 1952 marks the Luxembourg signature.

The document is available in the UN Treaty Collection.

The Israel–FRG Reparations Agreement of 10 September 1952 remains the federal Wiedergutmachung milestone.

Image: Luxembourg / 1952; Wikimedia Commons. Cropped to 16:9.

Source consulted: Reparations Agreement Israel–FRG. Treaty text: UNTS — Israel–FRG Agreement 1952.