In the radio days of yore, Mr. Kean worked miracles each week tracing missing persons. Now, an Israeli lawyer. Simha Ben Sira, is trying for a similar miracle. He is searching for one Agrippe Oostahoff or any of his heirs to pay them $1 million.
According to Ben Sira, an attorney from Jerusalem representing a real estate developer, Ooshahoff bought a parcel of land, some 7,000 square feet, in 1942 warth about $300 at the time. The land is in the middle of one of Jerusalem’s fashionable neighborhoods and the developer wants to build a condominium on it.
Ben Sira told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency today that this parcel of land, which is now a vacant lot, is worth the $1 million so that construction can proceed. “If we can’t locate Ooshahoff or any of his heirs we will have to go to court to acquire it, and that’s going to take a great deal of time,” he said.
Ben Sira, who said he has been practicing real estate law in Israel since 1974, said he has been looking for Ooshahoff for two-and-a-half years in various parts of the world. He said that several people with that name have contacted him, but in each case it turns out that it is the wrong Ooshahoff. Ben Shira said the man might have changed his name or, if still alive, might have forgotten that he bought the land.
WON’T GIVE UP
But Ben Sira doesn’t give up easily. He told the JTA that he’s been successful in locating other persons who are owners of land in Israel, including two in Arab countries. “I had to go to London to call them and let them know,” he said. “I couldn’t call them from Jerusalem.”
In another case he solved, Ben Sira said he located a 65-year-old man in Los Angeles and told him he owned a parcel of land in Jerusalem. “The man said he didn’t have any land, that his father had died in 1933 and made no mention of it in his will. But I proved to him that he was the rightful owner and he was paid $350,000 for it.”
Ben Sira said that “a lot of people have land and just don’t know about it because it was bought by their parents who for one reason or another just didn’t mention it to their children. Now some developer digs up the deeds and finds that a given piece of land was bought in the 1920’s or the 1930’s, but the original owner can’t be found. He’s changed his name, or moved away or may be dead. It’s my job to find the owner or the heirs.” As for Ooshahoff, Ben Sira said he’ll keep on looking, and when he finds him or his heirs, “Will they be surprised.”
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