On September 1952 Israel and the Federal Republic of Germany signed the Reparations Accord. While official diplomatic ties were established 13 year later, relations in various fields were developed during these years. The relationships between the two countries were built in the shadow of the Holocaust. The tension between the memory of the Holocaust and the responsibility  of the Germans to the murder of the Jews on the one hand and the goals and needs Israel in the first decade of its existence on the other, will be thoroughly discussed. United States played an important role in the complex relationship between Israel and Germany and thus its significant role will be analyzed as well.