The World - News from Jan. 11, 1987

West Germany’s government of the early 1970s, led by the Social Democrats, arranged for the shipment of U-209 submarines to Israel despite an official ban, the Welt am Sonntag newspaper reported. It said the two companies allegedly involved, the shipbuilder HDW Werft of Kiel and the IKL engineering group of Luebeck, are also the subject of a parliamentary probe into the provision of submarine blueprints to South Africa. The Sunday newspaper said Israel received four submarines during the administration of Chancellor Willy Brandt, despite a law banning arms exports to areas of military conflict, which at the time included Israel.