Southern (R): Albania (RA). UK Government's Claim to Albanian Monetary Gold, Looted from Rome by the Germans in 1943, in Partial Satisfaction of Damage Awarded by the International Court of Justice in 1949 Corfu Channel Case: Negotiations with Italy

A file containing documents relating to efforts to find agreement between the British and Italian governments about the ownership of gold looted by the German army from an Albanian bank in Rome in 1943. Subjects discussed in the file include the British insistence that Italy establish a recognised claim to the gold; the Italian reluctance to challenge Albania in court, following recent improvements in Italian-Albanian relations; and a Parliamentary Question about compensation for sailors killed in the Corfu Channel incident. Documents in the file include correspondence with the British embassy in Rome reporting developments in the case in London and Rome; minutes of meetings between the Foreign Office and Italian legal advisers discussing the case; drafts of compromise agreements drafted by both sides; and despatches to the British embassies in Washington and Paris asking them to update their hosts on the progress of the discussions.