Reading Room Document

Payment of Compensation to Individuals in Receipt of Compensation from a Foreign Government (Mr. Richard E. Newkirk, OAP)

This opinion examines whether Richard E. Newkirk, a German émigré who left his work as a civil servant in Germany to avoid Nazi persecution, can receive compensatory annuity from the post-war German government while serving in the Department of Justice. The opinion concludes that while a federal officer may receive damages, the annuity scheme proposed by the German government is not exclusively a payment for damages. As a result, Newkirk would have to choose between the annuity and his employment at the Department of Justice. The OLC does not provide release dates for its opinions, so the release date listed is the date on which the opinion was authored. The original opinion is available at https://justice.gov/olc/page/file/935721/download.

October 4, 1954