740.00119 EW/11–845
The Secretary of State to the French Chargé (Lacoste)
The Secretary of State presents his compliments to the Chargé d’Affaires ad interim of France and refers to the notes of the French Embassy (nos. 89870 and 968 [929]) dated November 8 and November 17, 1945 respectively, regarding restitution of looted property from Germany.
The United States government has always fully endorsed the principle that identifiable looted property should be restored to the government of the country from which it was wrongfully taken. Considerable [Page 1423] difficulty has been experienced, however, in defining what constitutes looted property. The United States government has recently instructed its representatives in Germany to support a definition of restitution advanced in the Reparation Deliveries and Restitution Directorate of the Allied Control Council which would provide for restitution of (1) property which existed at the time of occupation or invasion and was subsequently removed to Germany, and (2) property which was produced subsequent to invasion and was acquired by the Germans as the result of an act of force.
United States representatives in Germany have also been instructed to support, in accordance with the above-mentioned definition, the restitution of looted property contained in plants declared available for reparation and to advise this government urgently of the procedure which they propose to follow in determining whether plants declared available for reparation contain, in fact, any such looted property.
It is hoped that these arrangements will enable the French government to recover a substantial portion of the property wrongfully acquired by the enemy. Reparation will, of course, be available for satisfaction of claims arising from the looting of property which cannot be recovered through restitution.