362.113/2019: Telegram
The Chargé in Germany (Gilbert) to the Secretary of State
[Received January 4—1:25 p.m.]
10. Department’s 249, December 28, 8 p.m. Before the receipt of this telegram both the Embassy and the Consulate General here had received several letters relative to the means of transferring inheritances from Germany under the aide-mémoire of December 20 [16]. In view of these communications and bearing in mind the Department’s telegram under reference the following information was obtained in an interview with a competent official of the Foreign Office.
1. The transfer of inheritances to American claimant will be centralized in the “Devisenstelle Berlin beim Oberfinanzamt Präsident Berlin”.
2. Both executors and heirs can file requests for inheritances with the office just mentioned.
3. The German aide-mémoire speaks of “estates of persons deceased in Germany”; as we have already had one case brought to our attention respecting claims to an estate in Germany which, however, was the estate of a person deceased outside of Germany I inquired whether the aide-mémoire covered the transfer in such cases.
It was stated that such inheritances would be transferred if the testator had his “legal residence” in Germany. Inheritances deriving from testators with a legal residence outside of Germany did not fall within the aide-mémoire according to the interpretation of the Foreign Office.
4. The Consulate General here will inform Consuls of the foregoing and instruct them in line with Department’s 249.