A test case which may, ultimately, involve about 350, 000 Germans with claims totaling about 1, 500, 000, 000 Deutschemarks (nearly $400, 000, 000), was decided today against a claimant who sought government repayment for losses incurred because he bought a Jew’s property “in good faith” during the Nazi regime.
The case, which will be appealed to Superior Court, was a test on behalf of a farmer at Frankenthal. In 1938, the farmer had bought the property of a Jewish neighbor. After the war, he was ordered to return to the original owner not only the property but an additional 25, 500 Deutschemarks (about $6, 500).
The Union of Loyal Persons Injured by Restitution, which is advancing the cause of “loyal purchasers,” contends that Germans who bought Jewish property under the Nazi regime had actually “saved Jewish lives, freeing persons from concentration camps by enabling them to emigrate.” Dr. A. Seger, president of the Union, says there are 350, 000 “loyal purchasers” in the country, with claims totaling approximately a billion and a half Deutschemarks.
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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.
