An American restitution appeals court has decided that persons who bought “aryanized’ property during the Nazi regime and must now return it to its former owners are not responsible for war damages to the property during the time it was in their possession.
The court argued that Allied bombing and similar war actions would have damaged the property regardless of who had legal possession of it at the time. Also, the court stated, the possessor of the property could not have taken any more precautions in guarding the property than he did and therefore was not personally responsible for the loss resulting from damage. The decision was handed down in the case of Viktor and A.L. Oppenheim, Jewish owners of some real estate in Kassel which was “aryanized” and then sold to a German.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
